The Assembly met at 10.30 am (Mr Speaker in the Chair).
Members observed two minutes’ silence.

Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Mr David Ford: On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I am aware that the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development is, quite properly, in Brussels today on essential business. Will you inform the Assembly if, in this era of joined-up government, any other Minister has given notice of an intention to make a statement on her behalf on the foot-and-mouth disease crisis?

Mr Speaker: I was not aware of the Minister’s current whereabouts. I have not received any request for a statement to be made today on that subject.

Political Situation: Newspaper Article

Mr Peter Robinson: On a point of order, Mr Speaker. I want to move to the "foot-in-mouth" disease. On Saturday the ‘News Letter’ ran what amounted to a detailed confession by one of MrTrimble’s closest and strongest supporters. It stated that the First Minister and the leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party had been consistently dishonest; misled or lied to people; duped the electorate; and had been inaccurate in their interpretation of the Belfast Agreement — among other accusations.
The normal procedure in most other legislative chambers is that people would be entitled to some form of emergency debate on a matter which, quite clearly, goes to the very heart of the way such institutions were set up and the way they are running. Can you advise us, Mr Speaker, if there is any way we could have this debate today or tomorrow? The issues are so important that I do not think they can be passed off or left to be put down in a motion for next week.

Mr Speaker: The Standing Orders we have here are, in certain ways, somewhat different from the standing orders in other places. I have looked at this in the past, but I will certainly examine it again to see whether the Member’s request can be accommodated. However, so far as I am aware, it is not something that can be accommodated under our current Standing Orders, even in the context of leave, though I will need to check that, as any motion would not be on the Order Paper, and there are certain requirements regarding Standing Orders. I will check the matter and get back to the Member. At this moment I am not aware of any mechanism of the kind he describes.

Mr Peter Robinson: I am grateful for that ruling, Mr Speaker. If a motion of no confidence were to be put down today would that attract a more expeditious procedure?

Mr Speaker: I do not know that a motion of no confidence would be different from any other motion. However, I will check the matter and get back to the Member.

Mr John Tierney: On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Have you not ruled on newspaper reports in the past? I think you said a couple of times that you would not allow any discussion on newspaper reports. I believe that that is what has been quoted today.

Mr Speaker: Newspaper reports are of themselves not a subject for debate, but, as I understand it, the Member is saying that the substance of the newspaper report is such as to stimulate cause for concern. I hesitate to take the view that nothing that appears in newspapers would be a proper subject for debate here. There may be some such things. I do not think I can rule out of order the concern that the Member raises. However, this is a wholly political concern, and not for me to judge upon.

Mr Peter Robinson: On a further point of order, Mr Speaker. Is there not a distinction between a newspaper report, the validity of which can be questioned, and a actual article, in the first person, from a supporter of Mr Trimble who is accusing him of being dishonest and lying to the people of Northern Ireland?

Mr Speaker: Newspaper reports may or may not be true. In my experience, the claims of individuals, whether in the first person or in another person —

Mr Peter Robinson: He is a supporter.

Mr Speaker: — may or may not necessarily be true.
The Member says that the person is a supporter. He will be familiar with the old adage that opponents are people in other parties, whereas enemies are those in one’s own. I do not think that I can make any assumptions of that kind. I can only deal with the technical question, and I will return to that matter and clarify it.

Mr Nigel Dodds: On a further point of order, Mr Speaker. Is it right that you should be casting such aspersions on those sitting behind Mr Trimble? The person who wrote this article in the ‘News Letter’ is a paid employee of the party in question, and for him to make these allegations against Mr Trimble is astounding.

Mr Speaker: It is not necessary to question the integrity or the standing or the views of sitting Members. We were only, as I understand it, referring to members of parties, and that is a separate matter from Members of the Assembly.
The technical question has been sufficiently aired.

Trade and Business Development: North/South Ministerial Council Sectoral Meeting

Sir Reg Empey: The fourth meeting of the North/ South Ministerial Council in its trade and business development sectoral format took place in Dundalk on Friday 16 February 2001. Following nomination by the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister, Dr Seán Farren and I represented the Executive. The Irish Government was represented by Ms Mary Harney TD, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. This report has been approved by Dr Farren and is also made on his behalf.
The Council received a verbal progress report from the chief executive of the Trade and Business Development Body, Mr Liam Nellis. This included briefing Ministers on the establishment of its offices in Newry and the appointment of its permanent staff. The Council noted a paper introduced by Mr Nellis, which outlined the main activities carried out by the body in its first year of operation. Ministers welcomed the considerable progress made in establishing the body and the volume of work which had been completed by its board.
The Ministers approved the body’s operating plan for 2001, which outlined activities for the year and the associated budget. Major initiatives planned for InterTradeIreland for 2001 include: promoting increased use of equity/venture capital throughout the island; supporting science and technological innovation in companies on a cross-border basis; supporting the development of e-commerce throughout the island, including the establishment of an all-island research fund; assisting in the strengthening of the local supply chain to both major multinational and indigenous companies on the island of Ireland; and promoting the benefits of North/South trade and enhancing market awareness.
In the legislation establishing the body, InterTradeIreland was mandated to bring forward to the council proposals for establishing graduate and other placement programmes on a North/South basis. The Ministers approved the body’s proposals to introduce two programmes on a cross-border basis.
The small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) business development programme is aimed at giving SMEs access to a wider reservoir of knowledge and expertise through working with a graduate/diploma holder to transfer technology and know-how. The cross-border trade programme is aimed at developing cross-border trade and providing back-up support to SMEs by matching a business from one side of the border with a graduate from the other. Ministers asked that this activity be treated as a key priority that could make an important impact on developing and increasing trade and business links North and South.
At the North/South Ministerial Council meeting the Ministers noted and approved the proposals put forward by InterTradeIreland to enhance competitiveness. It was agreed that the proposals should be taken forward in co-operation with Departments with a view to an interim report’s being presented to the plenary meeting in March 2001. In this regard, InterTradeIreland brought forward a number of specific recommendations in respect of areas such as innovation and information and communication technology in which the body considered it could address all-island competitiveness issues. The Ministers considered and agreed that the body’s draft equality scheme should be published.
The Council agreed that its next meeting in this sectoral format would take place in Northern Ireland in June 2001.

Dr Esmond Birnie: What progress has been made by the trade body to liberalise public procurement so that firms based on one side of the Irish border can bid fairly for Government contracts emerging from the jurisdiction on the other?

Sir Reg Empey: The Member has correctly addressed an issue that has been of some considerable concern. As one knows, public procurement is a substantial budgetary element here, in the Republic and throughout the European Union. The Member will be familiar with public procurement policies throughout the European Union and with the fact that the whole objective of creating a free market was to give people opportunities to compete and win contracts throughout the European Union.
The Member will be aware that we have a particular difficulty with the currency differential. That militates against those of us who are trying to bid into the euro zone, although there has been some slight improvement there. The body is acutely aware of the necessity to encourage this aspect, and the matter has been brought to the attention of business people at its roadshows — four of which have taken place in the last few months. It is also trying to notify and identify companies that could bid for public work. We believe that this awareness procedure will be successful, and the programme will continue throughout the next 12 months.

Mr Eddie McGrady: I thank the Minister for his statement given on behalf of himself and my Colleague Dr Seán Farren. I commend the Minister for his work, outlined in the report, on the North/South Ministerial Council. Is the Minister aware that many firms in the Republic of Ireland, particularly in the Greater Dublin area, are very interested in setting up satellite operations in the North of Ireland based primarily on the new technologies, but also in many other skills areas? Does he intend to make any special arrangements or provisions by way of organisational help or financial incentives? That would bring many of these anticipated developments to a practical conclusion. If I may be parochial, the Minister could also indicate that the best place to locate would be the constituency of South Down. However, generally speaking, anywhere in Northern Ireland would suffice.

Sir Reg Empey: I assume that that was not an invitation to act against one constituency in favour of another. I assure the hon Member that the IDB is acutely aware of the potential benefits of attracting investment from the Republic. There have been two significant investments in the last two months — one by the Bank of Ireland, which has come to Newry in recent weeks. The IDB has reorganised its team and appointed several people to look at that particular market to see what is available. The early signs are encouraging.
In the last four months we have had three major investments. I believe that others will be secured, for we consider ourselves to have significant advantages over the Greater Dublin area in particular. These include lower rates of staff turnover and a significant supply of qualified labour in certain disciplines. This will be one of our key target areas for attracting inward investment, and I assure the Member that the IDB is fully engaged in this process.

Mr Pat Doherty: A Cheann Comhairle, I welcome the Minister’s statement. I note that InterTradeIreland has focused on promoting the benefits of North/South trade and enhancing market awareness. The Minister mentioned areas in which
"the Body considered it could address all-island competitiveness issues, for example in areas such as innovation and information and communication technology."
Those of us who travel throughout the island will notice that when using mobile phones to make calls either North to South or South to North — even if only two miles up the road — we can be charged at international rates. When in the North, you may find that you are on the Eircell system, and occasionally when you are in the South you are still on the Vodafone network. Could the body take up the issue of creating an island market and cut out the high tariffs associated with international calls, given that many of these companies are buying each other out and amalgamating?

Sir Reg Empey: The points the Member makes about mobile phones make it obvious that he is not a shareholder in Orange. We have all noticed them, and we all complain bitterly about the call charges. However, telecoms issues are a reserved matter. We do, however, point out to Whitehall a number of the issues that we believe to be significant. For instance, in the Programme for Government our objective is to roll out broadband issues to ensure that, from the point of view of targeting social need, all areas of the Province have the opportunity to access proper services at a competitive rate.
There are huge issues here, and this one is international in the broadest sense of the word. The European Union is looking very closely at telecoms provision and how the market can be open to competition. This Assembly does not have the power to determine. However, any issues which relate to competitiveness — and they do not all fall within devolution — are the subject of an ongoing study. A report is due to be published in September or October 2001, and issues which are a barrier to competitiveness will be identified, whether or not they are in our own remit. I hope that when the final report is presented we will be able to take matters up in this House.

Mr Jim Wells: Does the Minister accept that Northern Ireland is still in competition with the Irish Republic for inward investment? What steps has he taken to ensure that information which may be of use to our competitors in the Irish Republic does not leak from the trade and business development body or the North/South Ministerial Council? For example, if information on an inward investment proposal for Northern Ireland were tabled at a meeting of one of these bodies, our competitors in the South might say "We quite fancy having that inward investment in the Irish Republic" and use the information to their advantage.
What steps has the Minister taken to settle the redundancy package for the staff of the new body, given that after the May election they will all be out on their ear?

Sir Reg Empey: The Member obviously does not appreciate that the North/South trade and business development body is not an inward investment body. It therefore does not have that information and consequently will not deal with that matter. That is the function of the Industrial Development Board for Northern Ireland or the Industrial Development Agency in the Republic. The North/South trade and business development body deals with trade and the promotion of a wide variety of issues, but inward investment is not one of its functions.

Mr Derek Hussey: I thank the Minister for his statement. Overall, I accept and welcome the improved employment figures. However, does the Minister agree that comparative figures along the border counties remain a major concern? They are particularly aggravated by infrastructural deficit, to which the Minister has referred — broadband technology and its expansion, and so on. Are benefits perhaps emerging at the North/South cores and missing the respective peripherals? Has the issue of comparative higher unemployment along the border counties been addressed at the North/ South Ministerial Council? If not, will it be addressed?

Sir Reg Empey: I am aware of the Member’s points, but the North/South Ministerial Council is a focus body. It does not deal with a broad range of social and economic issues. Even within its remit, it can deal with only certain parts of that remit at a time. The Programme for Government recognises the difficulties in several areas, including the Member’s constituency, and is attempting to address them.
I am also conscious that in the Irish Republic there are many people who regard the Celtic tiger economy as, perhaps, having run out of steam by the time it gets to the north-west of Northern Ireland.
It has been put to me on a number of occasions that that is the case. The matters the hon Member mentioned are currently not designated to this body for attention. The remit of the Trade and Business Development Body is primarily to increase trade and awareness. We are trying to promote recognition of companies which are close to each other but which currently do not conduct any business. I am sure the Member will agree with me that it is entirely advantageous to our economy to ensure that situation does not exist.
With regard to employment differentials, peripheral matters, and the issues surrounding telecommunications and broadband technology, there is a specific commitment in the Programme for Government to ensure that no area is disadvantaged. That may mean that significant decisions will have to be made. I have asked for a meeting with the Whitehall Small Business and e-Commerce Minister, Ms Patricia Hewitt. I hope to see her soon to ensure that there is a coherent approach throughout the United Kingdom to these matters. That will be of direct benefit to the Member’s constituency.

Mr Joe Byrne: I welcome the Minister’s statement. I ask the Minister to bring to the attention of the North/South Ministerial Council and the InterTradeIreland body the fact that we need to see strong evidence of a meaningful graduate exchange programme. In particular, those graduates who are interested in the information technology sector should be encouraged and helped by venture capital, which is vital allowing these young graduates, who have good ideas, to develop small businesses. This would bring great benefit to an area such as my own in Omagh.

Sir Reg Empey: I support the Member’s points, and, as he will have heard in the statement, we received a report with regard to the graduate placement programme. To put this into context, it is a not dissimilar scheme to the one run by my Department, on a worldwide basis, called the Explorers 2000 Programme. What this particular programme focuses on is matching companies on each side of the border with potential graduates or diploma holders. The small businesses that we are aiming at are those which currently may not have the resources to employ people with particular skills, whether in accountancy, in marketing or in communications technology skills. Those people will be supported with assistance from the body, and the company would be making a contribution. We are currently trying to match those people so that the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will receive a capability that they do not currently have. That is consistent with the objective of improving business and with the Explorers 2000 Programme, which operates on an international basis.
At the council meeting on 16February we decided to step up the work being done in this field, and we also decided that we needed to be aggressive and to put the resources into this area to ensure that the work is successful. We will be looking closely in the next few months to see, as the programme rolls out, how successful it is. If it is successful we will be prepared to redirect resources, within the existing budget, to support the programme. I believe that it has enormous potential.

Mr Oliver Gibson: In view of the fact that most of the SMEs in West Tyrone are agriculturally based and are derived from and often dependent upon the agricultural community, why was there no protection for that community since the threat of the dreaded foot-and-mouth disease? Why were there no protection mats on the northern side of the border to protect the industry along the boundary with the South of Ireland?

Mr Speaker: I commend the Member for the creativity of his question, but he and the House will be aware that this matter is not a responsibility of the Minister. It would be inappropriate for the Minister to respond, despite the point of order raised earlier by MrFord.

Dr Dara O'Hagan: Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I thank the Minister for his report. It is a shame that the full potential of the North/South Ministerial Council is not being realised, owing to the restrictions imposed on it by the First Minister and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party.
The Minister refers to the initiatives being planned by InterTradeIreland. One of them is assisting in the strengthening of the local supply chain to both major multinational and indigenous companies on the island of Ireland. Can the Minister give more details about that to the House? Will he also detail in relation to both indigenous companies and multinationals the current level of co-operation between the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) and the IDB, and Enterprise Ireland and LEDU? Go raibh maith agat.

Sir Reg Empey: With regard to the first point, the hon Member will be aware that in order to achieve the full potential of these institutions, a whole range of people have to take action, including those in the hon Member’s own party.
With regard to supply chains and the level of co-operation between companies, InterTradeIreland has already held four roadshows, which were designed to raise awareness throughout Northern Ireland and the Republic. It is recognised that the level of trade between the Republic and Northern Ireland is not that which could be anticipated for two jurisdictions sharing a common border, and another interesting point is that it is proving extremely difficult to get an accurate measurement of what the level of trade is. Work is currently being undertaken to confirm this, as there is quite a significant discrepancy.
Mention was made of multinational companies. Many of them are now in control of vast areas of trade, whether in food products or otherwise. The intention of the trade and business development body is to identify areas where there is potential to bring together people whom we believe can actually do business. It aims to introduce companies to one another and to hold networking sessions so that there is an opportunity for suppliers and customers to meet and to try to encourage them to do business. The comparatively low level of co-operation has struck the organisation since it has been operating. As a direct result, the IDB and IDA held their first meeting in May last year in the north-west. Flowing from that, they are trying to agree how they can jointly promote the area.
As was hinted at in a previous question, we are indeed competitors for inward investment. Although promoting inward investment is not a function of this organisation, the point is taken.
The objective of improving the supply chains is very simple: to bring together companies that could trade with each other but currently do not, and to suggest to companies that do not even attempt to export to or from the Republic that they can. I have seen this work quite well at supplier events, even at local authority level.
The IDA and IDB have met once. They have undertaken a programme of work. I know that there is co-operation between LEDU and Enterprise Ireland. However, it is outwith the functions of this particular body.

Mr Roy Beggs: I would like to return to the issue of all-island competitiveness, especially in the area of public procurement in the Republic of Ireland. Before coming to the Assembly, I worked as a production manager. That involved tendering for work in Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland for a company which had ISO 9002 and used internationally recognised products. Despite that, expensive tests were required to be duplicated for inclusion in tenders for public procurement in the Republic of Ireland. Can the Minister give an assurance that he and InterTradeIreland will consult with local industry and trade groups to ensure that the public procurement procedures in the Republic of Ireland allow free and unhindered access to Northern Ireland companies?

Sir Reg Empey: I can assure the Member that that certainly is the objective. The question of testing was one of the issues given to this body in its initial remit. The situation having been examined, it was decided that InterTradeIreland, pursuing the matter itself, would bring no added value. However, the testing authorities in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom as a whole have been brought together — as that is how most of this is organised. Those organisations are currently meeting and working together. InterTradeIreland has moved back from that, allowing those organisations to take matters forward and come up with their own solutions. That is being actively pursued, but it was felt that this body was not the right vehicle to take the matter forward. The authorities have now met and are working on a paper to improve their procedures. There is no doubt that the type of matters referred to by the Member are fundamentally anti- competitive. One of the measurements of the success of the body will be whether such barriers to trade are removed.

Mr Eugene McMenamin: Representing the border constituency of West Tyrone, I welcome the Minister’s announcement. Does he agree that a priority of the new body should be to ensure that there is an effective exchange of information between businesses and support agencies in both parts of Ireland? If so, how will InterTradeIreland address the issue?

Sir Reg Empey: Yes, undoubtedly. The effective exchange of information and the raising of awareness, which flows from that, are vital. The body will be hosting its own web site, and public or private bodies which wish to put information on the site will be able to do so. That, of course, will be entirely their decision. Nevertheless, a focal point will exist, where people who want to do trade and make contacts will have a specific site to visit. They will be able to exchange ideas and views there.
In addition, the body has set aside a budget for identifying where it can hold localised meetings in both jurisdictions to bring people together to achieve exactly the same thing. As I mentioned earlier, the comparatively low level of meeting, co-operation and information flowing in this area has surprised the body itself — the directors and staff — and all of us. I am sure that the Member will agree that anything to improve that information flow is bound to be beneficial.

Mr Jim Shannon: The Minister referred to the supply chain to major multinational and indigenous companies in Ireland. We are all very aware, especially here in the Province, of the producer, processor, retailer and, ultimately, the consumer supply chain. How will this be promoted and encouraged, and will targets be set to achieve the goal?
Secondly, in relation to North/South trade and enhancing market awareness, can the Minister indicate if there has been an increase in trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic? Who is responsible for promoting Northern Ireland industry and its market awareness in that, and how will its success be measured?

Sir Reg Empey: At present, no specific targets have been set with regard to the supply chains, but it has been agreed that this clearly must be one of the top priorities. Indeed, that was set out in the statement that accompanied the meeting. I am sure that the Member will have experienced a situation at local council level where people from the district are invited to meet the council to see whether business can be done between the council and those who might supply it. It is a simple, tried and tested method, but it is one that has not yet been done in this context. InterTradeIreland is going to set about developing those supply chains by bringing together people who could do business with each other. I referred to the value of trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic in relation to an earlier question. There is considerable doubt as to what the actual level of that trade is.
Statistics are managed on two different bases in the North and in the South. In the United Kingdom, Customs and Excise has its own measuring system, which covers only companies with a turnover of over £250,000. Figures in the Irish Republic are measured by different criteria, so there is some doubt about the true level of trade. The only way to benchmark whether a body is achieving anything is to see if there is a significant increase, so it is important to have a baseline benchmark at the outset. It is vital to have some such mechanism, because many of the companies are small and many are in the agriculture sector, which we intend to encourage. Much of the trade is not in goods but in service provision, so there is no physical movement of goods over the border, but there could be telephonic communication. Whitehall and its counterparts in the Republic are actively working on this.
The significant differences between each jurisdiction’s trade estimates have only recently come to light. The Department also carries out its own client testing, so there is back-up. As the Member rightly points out, much work remains to be done, because this is the only way in which we can measure success or failure. I assure him that this is a matter of urgency and that we hope to have it resolved by September.

Mr Francie Molloy: Go raibh maith agat. I welcome the Minister’s statement and his positive attitude. May I draw his attention to the setting up of the body’s office in Newry and the promotion of e-commerce? The Minister referred to the Bank of Ireland project which is locating in Newry. Can he give the House an assurance that the Newry office will ensure that business is distributed throughout the North and is not just focused in the Newry area? I mention this because the Bank of Ireland had been looking at my council area of Dungannon before the IDB’s involvement. When the IDB and, possibly, this body became involved, the project was relocated to Newry. Was any ministerial influence brought to bear on the location of the Bank of Ireland’s project in Newry?

Sir Reg Empey: That is a matter for the IDB and not for this body. It is the IDB’s responsibility to attract inward investment. The Bank of Ireland looked at the Dungannon area but, as an incoming investor itself chose the Newry site. I can assure the Member that InterTradeIreland had no role to play. I can also assure him that there was no ministerial involvement that attempted to steer the Bank of Ireland from one location to another. The Department and its agencies were unashamedly involved in trying to win investment for Northern Ireland, and local political representatives from Dungannon and Newry were actively involved in lobbying the bank.

Mr Danny Kennedy: I am glad to hear the Minister respond to any criticism of Newry. Was consideration given at the trade meeting to the continuing crisis in the fuel industry and the ongoing problem of illegal transportation of petrol and diesel from the Irish Republic? Can the Minister update the Assembly on what progress, if any, has been made with Her Majesty’s Treasury on this issue?

Sir Reg Empey: The fuel issue was not on the agenda of the meeting on 16February2001. In the past 12 months the Member has written to me and has sent delegations to me, so I know how deeply he and his constituents feel.
The Minister of Finance and Personnel, who has now joined us, will be aware that significant efforts have been made, and are continually made, to draw to the attention of the Chancellor the particular difficulties Northern Ireland is experiencing with this. However, it was not dealt with at InterTradeIreland’s meeting on 16 February.

Mr Danny O'Connor: I also welcome the Minister’s statement. However, to follow on from a point made by my Colleague Mr McGrady about companies setting up satellite sites in Northern Ireland, may I say that I hope that the Minister will keep East Antrim foremost in his thoughts. Will he assure us that he is committed to bringing economic prosperity to people right across Northern Ireland? Can he also assure us that Northern Ireland will not become a cheap labour option for firms expanding in the South, which want to come north because our minimum wage is somewhat less than that in the Irish Republic? If companies relocate to the North, will employees here enjoy the socio-economic benefits enjoyed by employees of those same companies in the South? Moreover, what effect does the Minister believe the euro will have on all of this, and may a special case need to be made for Northern Ireland?

Mr Speaker: Members really do press well beyond the borders of ministerial responsibilities. I must advise, as I have done before, that the euro is well beyond the remit even of our Minister of Finance and Personnel. However, on the other questions the Member raised, I call the Minister to respond.

Sir Reg Empey: Yes, there is no doubt that a coefficient of creativity is operating in the House this morning, from foot-and-mouth disease to everything that we have in here.
On the question of satellite companies, the Irish Republic is a target market for inward investment — of that there is no doubt. We have achieved, as I said in response to a previous question, a significant and increasing degree of success. We do market the facts about Northern Ireland. If you compare parts of Northern Ireland with the Greater Dublin area, you can see that there is a lower cost base. That does not necessarily mean cheap wages; it can take account of other factors. The supply of labour and the correct type of labour are, generally speaking, the most important ingredients when choosing Northern Ireland as a location. Because there is pressure in the labour market, companies in the Dublin area are looking at Northern Ireland as an alternative. We are encouraging that, and quite rightly so.
However, there is no question of Northern Ireland’s being sold or marketed as a cheap labour area. We do not need to do that because having the people is the priority for this sort of company. If the wages are next to nothing and there are no people, it does not make any difference. Therefore we are focusing on that. In order to improve — and I will try to be creative myself and make my answer relevant — we are trying to develop the capacity of companies to trade with each other and to invest in each other’s jurisdictions. That is one of the reasons for the graduate placement scheme that we have introduced. I hope you will mark me out of 10 for that, Mr Speaker.

Mr Speaker: Nine out of 10 for honesty, I guess.

Mr Wilson Clyde: The Minister has approved the body’s operation plans for 2001, which outline activities for the year and the associated budget. Can the Minister tell us what the budget amounts to?

Sir Reg Empey: The budget for 2001-02 is approximately £8·63 million, of which our contribution is £2·88 million. In my statement I said that we approved the operating plan for the year, which set out the tasks to be achieved and matched them to the budget. I can assure the Member that the operating plan was strictly within the budget limits. We will be monitoring that, and it is the responsibility of Ministers to ensure that budgets are adhered to. I believe that they must be signed off by the Minister of Finance and Personnel, who will ensure that that is the case. I cannot see him giving his approval to any budget that is not within the agreed limits.

Budget Bill: Consideration Stage

Mr Speaker: I propose, by leave of the Assembly, to group the five clauses, followed by the three schedules and the long title.
Clauses 1 to 5 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Schedules 1 to 3 agreed to.
Long title agreed to.

Mr Speaker: The Bill stands referred to the Speaker.

Electronic Communications Bill: Consideration Stage

Mr Speaker: I propose, by leave of the Assembly, to group the five clauses, followed by the long title.
Clauses 1 to 5 ordered to stand part of the Bill.
Long title agreed to.

Mr Speaker: The Bill stands referred to the Speaker.

Assembly: Environment Committee

Resolved:
That Mr David McClarty should replace Mr Tom Hamilton on the Committee for the Environment. — [Mr J Wilson]

Social Development Committee

Resolved:
That Mr Tom Hamilton should replace Mr David McClarty on the Committee for Social Development. — [Mr J Wilson]
The sitting was suspended at 11.24 am.
On resuming (Mr Deputy Speaker [Sir John Gorman] in the Chair) —

Questions 7, 12 and 18, standing in the names of Mrs Courtney, Mr Dallat and DrMcDonnell, will receive written answers. Question 11, standing in the name of MrRoger Hutchinson, has been withdrawn.

Enterprise, Trade and Investment
Global Point Development

1. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail the amount of funding allocated to the Global Point development at Ballyhenry, Newtownabbey, in terms of capital funding, site clearance and construction.
(AQO913/00)


To date, the Industrial Development Board (IDB) has spent £5·1 million on the Global Point development at Ballyhenry. The works, which will result in 100 net usable acres, include major earth works, the construction of access roads and the provision of services and extensive lanscaping works. The total expenditure by the IDB on site development is estimated at £6·7 million.


Is the Minister in a position to advise us when buildings are likely to become available for occupation?


Arrangements are progressing with our partners in this development, Prologis, incorporating detailed provisions for master planning, marketing and future development of infrastructure and building on the park. Only IDB-approved projects will be permitted to locate in the park, but it is expected that the first available unit will be ready for occupation by the end of this year.


The business park is situated a short distance from the infamous Sandyknowes roundabout, just on the edge of the A8. It also sits immediately adjacent to the Bleach Green railway line. Has the Minister had any discussions with his Colleague, the Minister for Regional Development, on public transport links to the site?


I have not personally had a discussion with the Minister for Regional Development, but I know that the issue of railways has been examined very closely. Newtownabbey Borough Council has a particular interest in it, as the site for a halt would be immediately adjacent to its council offices at Mossley Mill.
As the Member points out, there is a huge traffic problem already, and I am quite certain that the developers will be anxious to have the best possible links; a railway halt is one possibility. I know that that is strongly supported by Newtownabbey Borough Council.

Moyle Area: Business Development

2. asked the Minster of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to confirm his total commitment towards business development in the Moyle District Council area.
(AQO939/00)


My Department’s agencies, LEDU and IDB, are committed to working in partnership with the council, the district partnership and organisations such as CORE and Moyle Economic Development Forum to ensure that a holistic approach is adopted towards business development in the Moyle District Council area.


Does the Minister recognise that the lack of manufacturing businesses in the Moyle area and the higher dependence on agriculture — estimated at making up 26% of the workforce — have contributed to higher unemployment and social deprivation? What is likely to be his Department’s response in relation to targeting social need, and what has been the uptake of small business set-up grants from LEDU in the Moyle area compared to other council areas?


I am aware of the Member’s strong views on those matters; they have been in evidence whenever I have visited the Moyle area, which I have done on several occasions recently. The Member is right to say that there is still a high dependence on agriculture and tourism. He and his colleagues on the council know that we are working hard on the Campbeltown issue and on other plans that, we hope, will help.
However, there is no disguising the fact that there is a lack of facilities in the manufacturing sector in that area. There is land available in the council area; there are 4.2 acres available at Leyland Road. The dependence on agriculture — an area of particular concern at the moment — highlights the difficulty of creating balanced economies in district council areas.
The situation in the Moyle area is not ideal. There is dependence on agriculture and tourism, both of which are subject to considerable fluctuation. However, LEDU has a number of companies in the Moyle District Council area which have received letters of offer and are doing reasonably well. I accept that the situation is less satisfactory, so far as IDB is concerned.
I assure the Member that there is no lack of commitment on the part of the Department or myself to ensure, in conjunction with IDB and LEDU, that his district gets as fair a share as possible. However, we cannot dictate to companies where they should start up. I know that his council is working closely with LEDU, under the Business Start programme and other programmes, and I hope that that partnership will continue.


As the Moyle District Council area adjoins my constituency, I too am concerned about the level of unemployment in that district. Does the Minister agree that, through the Causeway Coast and Glens tourism consortium, there is real potential for the creation of jobs in the tourism industry? Is he taking steps to reopen the Ballycastle to Campbeltown ferry service?


I understand that the Moyle District Council area has the highest unemployment rate in Northern Ireland. It vies with Strabane for that unenviable title, so we must be conscious of the difficulties. The Causeway Coast consortium, as with many other self-help tourism efforts, deserves our support. We work closely with Moyle council, because some of the best potential tourist assets anywhere on this island are concentrated within that area, and I wish to see it prosper. The Glens, as well as the Giant’s Causeway and other sites, present wonderful opportunities to bring visitors to the Province.
I accept that it is a TSN area and that it requires special treatment. My Colleague, Dr Farren, is particularly aware of the training and employment needs in the district. The tourist board will do all that it can to ensure that Moyle District Council area is given the best opportunities for employment creation.


I note what the Minister said about tourism. He is right in saying that the Giant’s Causeway must be the number one tourist attraction in Ireland. However, it is not just a matter of attracting coaches filled with day trippers, as has been the case hitherto. To make a difference to the Moyle District Council area, we need visitors to stay overnight, preferably for a week or a fortnight. There are plenty of facilities for tourists, particularly along the coastline and in the Glens of Antrim, but such facilities must be properly promoted.
Can the Minister reassure the House that the all-Ireland tourist body will not simply be a device for sending one-day visitors by coach from the Republic? It should spend a sufficient proportion of its budget to ensure that there is a significant increase in the number of overnight visitors to the area.


The issue of overnight visitors is key. Coach trips are welcome, but recently visitors have been coming to Northern Ireland for the day and returning to the Republic to spend the night. This is partly due to the currency issue. Regrettably it is also because of other circumstances which make some overnight stays unsatisfactory. The Northern Ireland Tourist Board is acutely aware of the problem. The bulk of profit from tourism — apart from people’s visiting amenities — is generated by money spent on accommodation, food and entertainment. Clearly, the potential spend is at a minimum with a day trip, and at a maximum with an overnight stay.
The hon Member is preaching to the converted in requiring that emphasis. We do our best to ensure that the accommodation is of the highest quality. We have had extensive talks with the coach companies, and some of them are increasing the number of coach visits to Northern Ireland. However, that tends to be at the shoulder of the season because of the problem we have in Northern Ireland in the summer. Until that problem is resolved, it will be difficult to achieve the desired level of overnight stays.

Consumer Strategy

3. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to outline his policy on the new consumer strategy.
(AQO934/00)


Creating and implementing a new consumer strategy, as foreshadowed in the draft Programme for Government, will involve a two-tier approach. My Department will prepare a Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment strategy to focus on consumer issues and areas directly relevant to it. I propose to use the strategy as a template to address consumer areas in which other Departments have interests and where there is the potential for a joined-up government approach, thereby creating a consumer strategy for Northern Ireland.


What steps will be taken to ensure that young people have increased awareness of their rights as consumers?


The strategy will contain a number of key themes — increased education on information for consumers, improved access to high-quality advice, improved representation for consumers, promoting consumer orientation of businesses and better communications and understanding of consumer affairs. The General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland has an exceptional web site that recently won national awards. That is a direct way of communicating with young people, more of whom have a propensity to use the Internet.
Placing the consumer strategy in schools is another area that I am keen to investigate. Many young people are specifically and deliberately targeted by commercial organisations and are influenced in some controversial areas. The question is a very interesting one, and I will ensure that it is drawn to the attention of my Department, the General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland and the Trading Standards Branch.

Small to Medium Enterprises

4. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to outline how locally promoted small to medium enterprises (SMEs) can best be served by the new single economic development agency for Northern Ireland.
(AQO914/00)


Northern Ireland is primarily a small firms economy. This will be reflected in the priority given to small to medium-sized entreprises in the new agency. The agency will play a key strategic role in small business development. I envisage that a significant proportion of the agency’s resources will be targeted at promoting innovation and best practice in the small and medium-sized enterprise sector.


I welcome the Minister’s answer. Will he ensure that the new development agency — through its area officers — is adequately manned, to ensure that client executives who work with SMEs are not based in Belfast only?
Does he accept the merit of having client executives based in particular territories and working from area offices? Some in the SME sector feel that the client executive in the manufacturing and engineering sectors has to work out of Belfast and travel 80 miles to Tyrone or Fermanagh. People feel that they are a wee bit left out and that communication and consultation is disrupted.


I am aware of the point made by a number of Members about the agency. I give a commitment that the new agency will have a regional dimension; there should be no doubt about that. The regional dimension will involve something other than the current office structure of LEDU. The IDB, as Members know, does not have offices outside Belfast. Therefore, to achieve any coherence in helping a local region, the agency must provide a comprehensive service to potential customers in the different areas within that region. While the detail has not been worked out, the commitment to have a regional dimension is absolute. For that commitment to be meaningful the agency, through its regional offices, must be capable of delivering a holistic service to the community.


I welcome the Minister’s comment that the focus of the new agency will be to help with innovation. I also welcome his remarks regarding the regional representation of the new agency. I am sure he will accept that the greatest potential for innovation is in our small and medium-sized businesses. These businesses need assistance to turn a dream or a workable idea into a reality, thus generating employment.
Can the Minister assure me that established and emerging local firms will receive at least the same attention as the large multinationals he hopes to attract?


"Team West Tyrone" is very obvious. Mr Gibson is not here, but he may emerge at any moment.
Northern Ireland is primarily a small and medium-sized enterprise economy, as the Member knows. Well over 90% of our employers are small to medium-size businesses. It follows that unless we have a strategy to address their specific needs, we will fail to deal with the potential for growth. In other developing economies — and, indeed, in the United States — the growth in employment has not been in Fortune 500 companies; it has been in small to medium-size enterprises.
I assure the Member that, despite a lot of publicity inward investment gets, indigenous or small companies create the vast majority of new jobs. In an economy, you need inward investment to ensure that you bring in new ideas, new scales and international connections.
I assure the Member that the emphasis is on ensuring that small to medium-sized enterprises have the capabilities, are competitive, are provided with the capacity to function and the tools to do so. We are trying to do that through rolling out broad-band technology, the creation of a new agency, training and through a whole range of technical assistance, which is currently given by the Industrial Research and Technology Unit.
Therefore the Member can be assured that the emphasis will not be largely or exclusively on the attraction of inward investment. It will be across the board because that is where new jobs will be created.


Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle.
I am very encouraged by the Minister’s answers. Will he consider that the Foyle constituency merits the location of a regional office to service the growth of the SME sector? I am sure he is aware that that sector in Foyle suffered as a result of the closure of the IDB offices.


I have repeatedly made the commitment to the House — and I reiterated it a short time ago — that the new agency will have a regional focus. I am reluctant to say exactly where those offices might be. A range of considerations must be taken into account when making those decisions. I do not propose to tell the hon Member today what the specific situation will be in the Foyle area. All I will say is that the agency will have a strong regional focus.


Given the catastrophe that the agriculture industry is facing, I am sure that the Minister will agree that the only possible and viable strength that communities in rural districts have will lie largely with tourism. That being so, can he assure me that those small and medium-sized businesses linked to tourism will be given the utmost consideration when they put their plans forward?


I agree with the hon Member that the industry currently faces a catastrophe. No doubt he will be aware that areas over which I have responsibility — namely, the processing sector — are also facing a serious situation. While we sit, many people are idle, and companies have been effectively suspended, unable to send products out of Northern Ireland or to process them. Therefore I appreciate acutely the significance of the Member’s point.
With regard to tourism, the Assembly treats it as a business. That is why it falls under my Department and not under the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, as on the mainland. The Member will also be aware that the Northern Ireland Tourist Board’s business support services will be transferred into the new agency which is being established to deal with all economic matters. That is being done to ensure high quality and consistency in service.
I give the Member the assurance that he seeks: we regard tourism businesses as a very viable alternative. Rural development, as he is aware, is one of the key themes emerging throughout the European Community, and it applies significantly to his constituency. Subject to market conditions, we will deal with those companies and provide them with the best possible assistance available.

‘Best of Northern Ireland’ Exhibition

6. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to confirm that he intends to be present at the ‘Best of Northern Ireland’ exhibition at the Houses of Parliament; and to make a statement.
(AQO938/00)


I understand why the hon Member might have some interest in this question. I wish to thank MrRoy Beggs Snr for securing the opportunity to host the exhibition and confirm that it is my intention to attend. The exhibition will provide an excellent opportunity to promote Northern Ireland and, in particular, to emphasise examples of innovation and excellence drawn from all aspects of the Province’s life. I look forward to the exhibition later this week.


On the basis of previous exhibitions, what practical benefits does the Minister foresee coming from it?


Mr Deputy Speaker, you may be aware that a ballot is periodically held in the House of Commons to provide Members with the opportunity to host exhibitions in the House. Mr Roy Beggs Snr was successful in that regard. We will use this as a major opportunity to market a range of activities in Northern Ireland. It will be held from 26 February to 2 March in the Upper Waiting Room, and I hope that the Prime Minister will formally open it.
Our objective is to give a positive and forward-looking image of Northern Ireland to a wide variety of Members of Parliament and invited guests including potential investors, key influencers, existing investors and trade contacts.
Also, IDB will be helping Mr Beggs host a number of events alongside the exhibition in which we will network with people whom we consider to be potential investors and with people who are interested in doing business. It is important that we present a positive and constructive image to the business community at every opportunity that arises, and I believe that this exhibition provides such a platform.

North/South Gas Pipeline

8. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to outline proposals to build a North/South natural gas pipeline.
(AQO905/00)


The position regarding a South/North natural gas pipeline remains as stated in my reply to question AQO473/00. I have recently received an initial proposal for a South/North pipeline flowing from the Republic to Northern Ireland which is currently being assessed by my Department and the gas regulator.


I thank the Minister for his reply, but does he not agree that it would have been more in Northern Ireland’s interest to have this pipe and the commencement of the work running North/South rather than the reverse?


I am inclined to agree. However, one has to understand that the gas industry in Northern Ireland is privatised, and the function of my Department is to regulate along with the gas regulator. We can only react and give licences if a specific proposal is put to us. So far, Bord Gais in the Republic has put forward a proposal, which we are currently evaluating. It is the only proposal that has formally been put before us, and we will have to deal with that as best we can.
The Republic’s decision about where it is going to get its new gas supplies has been delayed on a number of occasions in the last six weeks, and that has slowed things down. There is also the question of the levy and various other matters. All I can say is that a firm proposal which has been put to us is currently being evaluated, and the hon Member knows only too well that we are very keen to see a positive resolution with regard to both North/South and north-west.


In view of the Minister’s remarks to Mr Close, can he indicate what progress has been made in negotiations between the director general of the Office for the Regulation of Electricity and Gas (OFREG) and Premier Transmissions on the granting of a gas licence for the south-eastern region of Northern Ireland? What steps will the Department take to encourage potential developers to expand this much needed energy into other areas of the distribution networks? Are there any applications or negotiations ongoing to provide natural gas to the south-east of Northern Ireland?


The answer to the last part of the Member’s question is "Yes". Regarding the negotiations, I personally have had two meetings with representatives of Bord Gais in the last six weeks. Discussions are ongoing. So far as Premier Transmissions is concerned, I have no proposal from that company before me at present. The only one we have is from Bord Gais, and we can only deal with the proposal that we have.
Of course, I have met Premier and other private companies on a number of occasions, and it is no secret that I personally — and it is the Department’s preferential choice — would prefer a North/South pipeline which would supply power stations in the Greater Dublin area and a north-west power station which would supply Coolkeeragh and allow us to feed the towns en route, both south-east and north-west. However, I repeat that we are only able to deal with an application if it is in front of us, and only one is currently being evaluated.


Does the Minister believe that it is feasible to have both a north-west pipeline and a pipeline that goes to the south-east with a North/South interconnector? If he does not believe that that is feasible, what is his preference? With regard to the value to the economy and the numbers of people using it, the south-east pipeline would be perceived by people living in that area as being of equal or greater value than that of the north-west pipeline.


A meaningful energy market and a competitive gas market are both necessary. I want to see an integrated market because one power station consumes 20 times more gas than all the domestic consumption en route to it. Without the base load, the economics of any pipeline are severely restricted. To use an analogy, it is like having a shopping centre with no anchor tenant.
There is a scheme available. However, no formal application has been made to provide a north-west pipeline to feed Coolkeeragh, which would allow the towns en route to access natural gas. Similarly, the departmental view is that a North/South pipeline should run from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland to feed new power station developments in the Greater Dublin area, thereby having base loads at each end of the two pipes.
That would also create a unified network across the island because the Corrib gas field, which is to come on-stream, would be able to sell into Northern Ireland’s market and we would be able to sell into the Republic of Ireland’s. There would then be two pipelines — one to Ballylumford from Scotland, and the existing one from Scotland to the Republic of Ireland. That is the ideal solution, but the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment is not in control of matters because it is up to the private companies to make their applications. The Department can only respond on receipt of those applications.

Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment

Questions 1, 6, 12 and 20, standing in the names of Mr Dallat, Mrs Courtney, Dr McDonnell and Mr Neeson, will receive written answers. Question 13, standing in the name of MrRoger Hutchinson, has been withdrawn.

Executive Programme Funds

2. asked the Minister of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment to detail the bids made by his Department for Executive programme funds.
(AQO900/00)


The Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment has submitted seven bids for Executive programme funds. They are bids for: increasing provision for adult basic education; improving physical access to further education and higher education institutions for disabled people; improving links between business and education; a new major further education building project; developing on-line service delivery and job centres (there are two separate bids for that); and developing childminding networks. Those bids amount to £23·48 million over three years.


I thank the Minister for that information. Which of those bids does he consider to be a priority?


All the bids are of considerable importance; and none would have been made had it not been so. None of them can be regarded lightly. However, my priority is adult basic education, and I am sure that many Members, if not all, appreciate the urgent need to address deficits in basic literacy and numeracy. Those have been highlighted by international and domestic reports in recent years. Improved physical access for the disabled at further and higher education institutions and the improvement of links between Northern Ireland business and education partnerships also deserve priority.
One in four adults in Northern Ireland has some literacy or numeracy difficulty.
If we are serious about promoting social inclusion and developing a fairer society, this problem must be addressed effectively. It is a major barrier to social and economic inclusion, which is not always acknowledged. We also need to have regard to developments in Great Britain and the Republic in which substantial investments have been made. I trust that this bid will be successful and that we will not only avoid falling behind our neighbours in terms of their provision but will advance quite rapidly towards eliminating the deficits among so many in our adult population.

Further Education Colleges: Enrolment

3. asked the Minister of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment to give his assessment of current enrolment at further education colleges.
(AQO884/00)


I am pleased to inform the Member and the House that enrolments in further education colleges have risen to 89,379 in 1999-2000. That is an increase of 3,000 on the previous year.
Information on the current academic year is not yet available, as students are still enrolling in some courses. However, we can regard the increases that have been taking place as significant and very satisfactory. They indicate the desire and determination of school leavers and those of maturer years to avail of the training and educational opportunities available in further education colleges.


I thank Minister Farren for his announcement. Is he aware of the tension in higher and further education colleges over the underfunding of students? Does he have any plans to review that situation?


In recent months we have frequently addressed, in one way or another, the questions associated with student financial support. Members will be aware that I have gone to considerable lengths to emphasise the importance I place on the further education sector, in the House and elsewhere. I have also voiced my concern to ensure that students in the sector are as adequately supported as possible.
Before Christmas, I announced new arrangements for student financial support. These include significant improvements and are now the subject of detailed analysis and determination by my Department and the Department of Finance and Personnel. I trust that they will be seen as significant improvements for students in the further education sector.


Is the Minister aware that the current enrolment for full-time HND courses in the East Down Institute of Further and Higher Education is restricted to building engineering? Does he agree that with the developments in commerce courses must be provided in computing, information technology and software engineering if the local community is to sustain itself economically? Will the Minister reconsider the restriction on full-time courses and allow the East Down Institute of Further and Higher Education to expand its curriculum and, therefore, its enrolment?


Over recent years, additional places have been made available in the further education sector to enable colleges to provide higher education courses such as HNDs.
The allocation of additional places to particular colleges must take account of the criteria set down to enable colleges to indicate clearly that they are in a position to deliver on particular courses. In 1999 the then Department of Education awarded the East Down Institute 32 full-time higher education places over the next two years in the vocational area of construction.
That was the first year in which the Department was able to allocate full-time higher education places to the institute. All colleges approved to deliver full-time higher education must operate within an allocated number of places known as the maximum student number — MaSN, as it is generally called. It has been noted that the institute has so far used 16 of the 32 places over the two-year period. The institute’s allocation formed part of the additional 600 places allocated to the further education sector following the comprehensive spending review. In addition, a further cohort of up to 100 HND places in the vocational areas of software engineering and electronics have been introduced in the current year. Any further increase will be dependent on additional resources becoming available and being distributed in the light of existing priorities. It will also be dependent on the colleges meeting the criteria that have been set down, thus demonstrating that they have the capacity to provide courses in any particular area.


I thank the Minister for his answers. I notice that he has placed top priority on the basic skills element of further and higher education. Will the Minister assure the House that his Department will focus its efforts upon colleges such as the East Antrim Institute for Further and Higher Education, to enable them to expand the numbers on programmes such as LEAF? That initiative is targeted at clients in marginalised estates in Newtownabbey, who are currently unable to access the main college campus, so that they may benefit from any economic expansion at the Global Point site in Newtownabbey.


In all the further education colleges that I have had the privilege of visiting so far — I am trying to include a visit to every college in the current academic year — I have been impressed by the extent to which they are involved in outreach of the kind referred to by Mr Robinson. In particular, I have been impressed with the outreach aimed at providing courses in basic skills and, beyond that, in providing opportunities to access further and higher education — particularly for those who have not had these opportunities before.
The Department is committed to encouraging all the colleges to maintain and expand upon this provision. Obviously — as in all these respects — resources are critical in determining the extent to which the provision can be made. However, it is provision that is being made very effectively by many colleges, and — I am pleased to say — many people are benefiting from the very determined outreach approach that colleges in all parts of Northern Ireland are making in this important matter.

Skill Shortages

5. asked the Minister of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment to detail the steps he is taking to address the external skills shortages identified in the Northern Ireland skills monitoring survey 2000.
(AQO886/00)


9. asked the Minister of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment to detail what areas of skill shortage he has identified and to outline the steps he is taking to address them.
(AQO880/00)


15. asked the Minister of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment to detail discussions he has undertaken with specific employment sectors on the issue of skills shortages.
(AQO903/00)


With your agreement, Mr Deputy Speaker, I intend to answer questions 5, 9 and 15 together, as they all touch on similar issues.
The recent skills monitoring report provides essential information that will assist in targeting resources on specific industry sectors and occupations where skills needs exist. It is one of a number of sources of information brought together by the skills task force.
In addressing skills needs, I meet regularly with industry representatives on a sectoral, cross-sectoral and individual basis. As a consequence, a range of initiatives has been put in place, including additional targeted higher and further education places and additional modern apprenticeships. I shall remind Members of a response that I made on one occasion regarding the ‘Back to your Future’ initiative which my Department launched before Christmas. This initiative was designed to put current job opportunities before expatriates in the IT and telecom sectors — particularly for those with a number of years of experience. We are experiencing a considerable shortage of experienced personnel in a number of our enterprises and are anxious to encourage our own people who have these skills to come back and avail of these opportunities. Perhaps Members could play a role by bringing news of new opportunities to the attention of acquaintances who possess such skills. These openings are available on an unprecedented level, offering worthwhile career opportunities and quality of life.


The Minister has referred to the Northern Ireland Skills Monitoring Survey, 2000. Of all "difficult to fill" vacancies, 43% are based on either a lack of practical skills, a lack of technical skills, a lack of qualifications or a lack of work experience. What immediate steps can the Minister take to address the more prevalent skill shortages? For example, the construction industry has a shortage of 60%; business services suffer a shortage of 56%; and the manufacturing sector is crippled by a shortage of 47%. In addition, the most prevalent external skill shortages in the associated professional and technical occupations amount to 72%. There is a shortage of 52% among managerial and administrative occupations.
(Mr Speaker in the Chair)


I compliment the Member for his familiarity with the report. Lest percentages deceive us, the report identifies the fact that only approximately 20% to 21% of surveyed employers reported difficulties in recruiting for their vacancies. Therefore, a significant majority are not encountering levels of difficulty of the kind that the Member has drawn to our attention. Of those employers who are encountering difficulties in filling vacancies, some have experienced acute levels of difficulty.
With regard to the immediate steps we are taking, we are in constant contact with the various sectoral training councils, and we work closely with them on all of the training programs. We are also in regular contact with the further education colleges and the universities. Therefore numbers are increased in accordance with the information available to us in respect of training at all levels. We must view our difficulties in the context of the pressures that arise on the labour market — not just internally in Northern Ireland, but also those created by the situations that have emerged in the South.
The need for specific skills in the construction industry has obliged businesses to seek workers from far beyond the shores of Ireland and Britain. The pressures and the associated levels of remuneration cannot be ignored, given the effect that they have on our internal labour market. We should not be complacent; rather we should continue to monitor and address the matter and work with the training providers to ensure that we are meeting the needs of all sectors of the economy to the best of our ability.


I thank the Deputy Chairperson of the Higher and Further Education Committee for answering the first part of my question.
Does he recognise that the greatest barrier to eradicating unemployment in Northern Ireland is not an unwillingness among investors to come into the Province? Rather, it is the fact that they cannot get people who are skilled to do the job. What does he intend to do to get unemployed people into a position in which they are able to begin active employment ?


We have to be careful about how we describe the scale of the difficulties. The difficulties relate specifically to several expanding sectors of the economy. We need to provide these sectors with the skills of experienced people. That is what motivates Attract Back-style programmes. In a few weeks’ time I hope to be in New York at a major jobs fair, where companies from Northern Ireland and the Republic will draw the attention of our expatriates in that part of the world to the opportunities now available, particularly in the IT sector.
Members should examine the range of training programmes which we provide, directly and indirectly, through our colleges and universities, at basic NVQ level and above. A considerable amount of effort is being made to ensure that we have skilled workers available. There are tailor-made programmes which can be put together under the Bridge to Employment initiative. Employers who identify particular needs can be assisted by the Training and Employment Agency to recruit, and have trained for them, workers who can have a very good opportunity to obtain employment in those enterprises associated with the Bridge to Employment initiative programmes.
We have taken further initiatives by holding discussions with some of the most recent investors, during which we asked them to identify their skills needs and provide in-service courses. When workers are recruited they are guaranteed opportunities on training programmes — with the support of their employers — to acquire certain skills. Such initiatives, and many others, demonstrate a very clear determination on the part of my Department to meet the skills needs of all investors, indigenous or foreign.


Does the Minister accept that quality training, particularly in craft and practical skills, can only be provided over a longer term? The current short-term training schemes do not meet the needs of young unemployed people or of the long-term unemployed.
Will the Minister consider increasing resources for modern apprenticeships to provide more worthwhile, value-added training, especially for young people? I am aware that Shorts Bombardier has an excellent training scheme in engineering and technical skills. Perhaps this could be replicated across Northern Ireland.


The Member and others in the House should be assured that the formal training programmes available are accessible within an agreed national framework — one which involves the employers through the various sector training councils. The Member mentioned the case of Shorts Bombardier. These courses are designed from the outset to make sure that they meet the needs of the sectors or enterprises.
I hesitate to suggest that any of the courses are inadequate in terms of the needs of the particular sectors or industries. Where there are inadequacies, they tend to be revealed in the course of ongoing monitoring of the achievements and skills levels of those who acquire their NVQ awards and those who complete modern apprenticeships. Any shortcomings will, I trust, be quickly identified and addressed, so that we can guarantee to existing and future employers a workforce trained and skilled to the highest standards of the sectors they are preparing to enter.


We are not making particularly good progress through the questions, so I ask Members to be as concise as possible in the last five minutes or so.


I note the Minister’s comments about shortages of experienced workers. Does he agree that on occasions employers are their own worst enemies because they impose arbitrary restrictions with respect to age, practising a form of ageism? They exclude applicants who are aged over 25, 35 or 45. Other employers demand graduates when a sub-degree level qualification would be adequate for the job in hand.


I agree up to a point with the Member’s comments with respect to the approaches adopted by certain employers. In the course of recent surveys it has been identified that some employers, when seeking to recruit, demand a higher level of qualification than is necessary. Many graduates have had to emigrate because they could not obtain employment here. The oversupply of graduates may well have conditioned employers to seek graduates rather than workers with other levels of skills. That is a matter which employers need to address.
With respect to the issue of ageism, employers are encouraged to follow the guidance in the voluntary code of practice on age diversity in employment which was circulated in June 1999 by the then Department of Economic Development. My Department also helps older workers back into employment through New Deal 50+. Members are probably aware that there is currently no legislation on discrimination in employment on grounds of age, although we could expect this to be considered in the context of the proposed single Equality Bill.

Disabled People: Employment

7. asked the Minister of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment to detail the steps he is taking to help people who become disabled whilst in employment to keep their jobs.
(AQO916/00)


My Department’s disablement advisory service provides a range of help to people in these circumstances. Financial and practical support is available through the access to work and employment support programmes. Advice is also provided by disablement employment advisers based in jobcentres and supported by occupational psychologists.


The Programme for Government states that the disabled are to be given special consideration. Does the Minister not understand that many of the disabled — and I am speaking about those who become disabled while in employment — feel disadvantaged and therefore need and deserve more positive protection?


I have to confess that I am not aware of cases in which those who became disabled in the course of employment were not able to avail of support. As I indicated in my response, there are forms of support available to them, and I trust that these are being drawn to their attention and that employers themselves are aware of the kind of support that can be made available. Certainly if there were any failure to provide that kind of support, I would be very concerned. If the Member has particular cases in mind, I would be only too pleased to receive the details and follow them up in correspondence or more directly with him.


Is the Department in a position to meet all demands for disabled access?


I take it that the Member refers to the bid for Executive programme funds, which I mentioned earlier when I said that the Department was making a special bid for additional funds in order to ensure that our further and higher education institutions have effective and adequate access for the disabled. Obviously the fact that we are making such a bid indicates that the situation is not yet a completely satisfactory one. We trust that, in a very short period, we will be able to remove the current backlogs. I am aware that many institutions are already taking steps on their own initiative to ensure that disabled access is available.


Order. Will the Minister please bring his remarks to a close. We are now beyond the time allotted for questions to him.

Social Development

Questions 4, 11 and 14, standing in the names of Dr McDonnell, Mr Neeson and Mr Dallat, will receive written answers. Question 8, standing in the name of Mr Roger Hutchinson, has been withdrawn.

Urban Renewal (Rathfriland)

1. asked the Minister for Social Development to detail his commitment towards the urban renewal of Rathfriland.
(AQO892/00)


While my Department has no immediate proposals for the urban renewal of Rathfriland, I point out that, in partnership with the International Fund for Ireland, over £800,000 was provided for the community regeneration project in Rathfriland which was opened in 1998. My Department’s input was £350,775.


I thank the Minister for the figures. In the past, Rathfriland was one of south Down’s most buoyant towns, and a wide section of the community sold its produce and purchased what it needed there. Unfortunately this is no longer the case. Commercial properties are closing weekly, and fears are being expressed about violent undercurrents that are posing a threat to an element of society in the area. Does the Minister agree that Rathfriland and other such deprived areas would benefit socially from a more buoyant local economy?


The quick answer to that is yes. In Rathfriland, as in other towns across the Province, grant aid of up to 30% is available to owners for the refurbishment of derelict private property under the International Fund for Ireland’s urban development programme, which is administered by the Department.

Antisocial Behaviour (Antrim Area): Action against Tenants

2. asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the number of actions that have been taken against tenants in relation to antisocial behaviour in the Antrim area in the last 12 months.
(AQO909/00)


This is a matter for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, whose chief executive has advised that, in the Antrim district during the period from 1 April 2000 to 9 February 2001, one notice seeking possession arising from the tenants’ antisocial behaviour has been served and that a further 31 cases are at different stages of investigation. While the Housing Executive has limited scope for action in some cases of antisocial behaviour, such as noise and pet nuisance, 38 such cases have been referred to Antrim Borough Council’s environmental health department for action.


What action does the Housing Executive take in cases of antisocial behaviour?


The Housing Executive usually tries to deal with antisocial behaviour through mediation, using its neighbourhood disputes system. However, when mediation does not produce the desired result, the Housing Executive has a range of available options. The Housing Executive has also set up a central antisocial behaviour unit, which includes an officer seconded from the RUC, who will help district offices to deal with the worst cases.


When paramilitaries put drug pushers out of their homes, these unconvicted drug pushers can go to the top of Housing Executive lists. Does the Minister agree that the correct way to deal with such people is through a Housing Executive antisocial order, so that if these people leave their homes, they do not go to the top of a Housing Executive list in a nearby area?


I thank Dr Hendron for his question, which has also been raised by a number of other Members, both orally and in writing. We propose to bring forward new housing legislation which we hope will address this issue adequately. The present housing legislation is not only inadequate for dealing with this situation; it is also intolerable and unacceptable.


A Cheann Comhairle, the Minister will be aware that problems with troublesome tenants who cause difficulties for their neighbours is not confined to the Antrim area; it is widespread throughout all constituencies. Will he encourage the Housing Executive’s mediation facility that he has mentioned to deal constructively with community restorative justice groups in areas that are trying to tackle the problem of antisocial behaviour?


The Housing Executive deals actively with different groups and organisations on antisocial behaviour, which is like a cancer running through our whole system. I have had direct representation from tenants who approached me as the Minister with responsibility. I know that it is of little comfort to them when I say that I have sympathy with their plight. They do not want sympathy; they want action. I reiterate what I said to Dr Hendron: that I hope that the new Housing Bill will deal effectively with this problem. I had hoped that the Bill would be at a more advanced stage. The fault does not lie with me or with my Department; it lies elsewhere. However, I trust that the Bill will come before the House in the near future.

Disability Living Allowance: Appeals

3. asked the Minister for Social Development to outline how long it takes to process appeal papers in respect of disability living allowance; and to make a statement.
(AQO882/00)


There are currently delays of six to eight months in the resolution of disability living allowance appeals. Owing to the introduction of new legislation in October 1999, there was an unprecedented increase in the number of disability living allowance appeals being received by the Department, and there is a backlog of work. In response to that, the Department implemented a recovery plan and recruited additional staff to deal with the extra work. Those plans are beginning to result in a reduction in the backlog, but it will be some time before service returns to normal. It is prudent that I apologise to all customers affected by those problems.


I thank the Minister for his positive reply. I know that he shares — as do most Assembly Members — our concern about the six to eight months’ delay with appeals for disability living allowance. Those who suffer from that delay are disabled people and people with family problems who are without that money for a lengthy period and find it extremely difficult. The Minister has indicated that he has put additional personnel on the job. Can he mirror the social services unit that is specifically dedicated — not seconded to do a part-time job — to eradicating this unacceptable delay for those sensitive people whose welfare, literally, is dependent on receiving their benefits when they are due? He is sympathetic, but we must take more specific action.


The Member is right. I am more than sympathetic. We have taken decisive action to address the problem, and we hope that we are making a definite impact. I have some figures that might interest the Member and the House. There are currently 857 appeals to be dealt with by the Disability Living Allowance Branch. The number is decreasing steadily, and it is estimated that it will be reduced to normal levels by mid-summer. There are almost 1,400 to be listed for hearing at a formal appeal; that makes a total of 2,257 outstanding appeals. I trust that that will, in some way, convey to the Member and the House the volume of the workload which we are dealing with effectively. Better days lie ahead. I hope that for the Member, for the House and for me.


In relation to problems over disability living allowance, what steps is the Minister taking to eradicate what have been referred to as "clerical errors" in the processing of the forms? Does he agree that perhaps a simplification of the form given to those seeking that benefit would go a long way towards eradicating the errors, and thus the appeal process, which he currently has to deal with?


That is not as simple as the Member makes out. It would be much easier for me to stand here and say that we had a system that was so simple that everyone’s case would be dealt with overnight. I wish that that was the case, but many situations must be taken into account. Let me reassure the Member that extensive overtime is being worked by the appeals tribunal. Moreover, the number of appeal writers has been increased by over 100% — from 15 to 35. Following a training period for the last group of 10, additional staff will start to write appeals from this month.
The action taken to manage the build-up in the appeals process centres is as follows: six additional staff are being recruited; overtime working has been approved; cross-training of medical panel members has taken place; the average number of weekly sessions for all benefit-related appeals has increased from 79 to 93; and additional, legally-qualified and medical, panel members will be recruited through the Northern Ireland Court Service. There can be only one impact, and that is that the situation will get better.


The House will note that Members who take the trouble to get their names on the list often find that we do not reach them. Therefore I am trying to adhere to the list as much as possible and move on. Mr Ervine is not able to be here for question 5.

Hawthorn Grove, Carrickfergus: Housing Executive Redevelopment

6. asked the Minister for Social Development to advise (a) of any proposals by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to redevelop Hawthorn Grove, Carrickfergus and (b) when redevelopment plans can be expected to be made public.
(AQO935/00)


There are at present no plans to redevelop Hawthorn Grove, Carrickfergus. The Housing Executive’s chief executive has advised that the bungalows at Hawthorn Grove are proposed for demolition. This decision was based on the extensive vandalism that has taken place, the fact that the dwellings have been subject to severe oil pollution and absence of demand in the area for that specific type of accomodation. This line of action will ensure that the site can be thoroughly decontaminated, leaving it available for future development.


Does the Minister accept that two years of disrepair is an unacceptable length of time before consideration is given? There must be a more streamlined system for addressing smaller schemes. This facility has not generated possible rent income for that time. Secondly, does he accept that there is a need for disabled pensioners’ two-bedroomed bungalows in Carrickfergus, and will consideration be given to allowing such development on this site?


The Member is correct in saying that there is a high demand for accommodation with two bedrooms or more, but not for these single-bedroomed bungalows. I agree that the consideration time is too long and that it is unacceptable. I want to look at that very carefully with the Housing Executive to ensure that the situation there is speeded up. I will certainly take it on board.

Unfit Housing

7. asked the Minister for Social Development to state the current level of unfit housing in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) County Fermanagh.
(AQO890/00)


The latest available figures from the 1996 Northern Ireland house conditions survey show that there were 43,970 unfit dwellings — representing 7·3 % of the total housing stock. In the Fermanagh District Council area the figure for unfit dwellings was 3,510 — representing 17·5% of the total housing stock.


It is a serious and unfortunate situation that unfit housing is worse in Fermanagh than in anywhere else in Ireland, England, Scotland or Wales. The Minister, I am sure, is aware that many of those who occupy unfit housing in County Fermanagh do so because they made minor mistakes when they were filling in their application forms. This resulted in the issue of closing orders on those properties. The closing orders, as we know, are now preventing some needy cases from making fresh applications for replacement dwellings. Does the Minister agree that in order to tackle the issue of unfit housing effectively in Fermanagh, there is a compelling case for a review of all the closing orders that have been issued? Will he direct the Housing Executive to get that review underway now?


By coincidence, I represent the same constituency as Mr Gallagher, and I am acutely aware of the situation that prevails in County Fermanagh. According to housing surveys, County Fermanagh is the worst area for housing. The most recent house conditions survey, from 1996, shows that Fermanagh has the highest percentage of unfit houses in any district council area. However, the same survey shows that that situation is being remedied in Fermanagh at a faster rate than in any other area. Surveys are carried out on a five-yearly basis, and I expect that when the next survey is published in 2001 it will show a considerable reduction in the unfit housing situation there.


Chapter 2 of the Programme for Government, to which the Minister’s Department has signed up, recognises that poor housing contributes to social exclusion, and it commits the Executive Committee to better co-ordination in the fields of housing, social security, education, training programmes and social services. Can the Minister tell me what contribution he is making to that improved co-ordination?


The Member may well remember that I am on record as saying that I believe that a good home is not a privilege but a basic right. That is the position that I take. My Department is not shy about making bids for funding for housing. We have in fact produced considerable sums of money to enable the Housing Executive to carry out its repairs and maintenance programme for the incoming year.
We also put in place the smallest percentage rent increases for over a decade. I believe that those are the real ways to treat people who are marginalised and socially deprived. As a result of the actions that I and my Department have taken, housing will get better, not only in Fermanagh, but across the whole of Northern Ireland.


Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I accept that the Minister made bids for funding. Does he agree that we need to eradicate, not reduce, the intolerable level of unfitness? Were his bids successful?


The Member is a member of the Social Development Committee, and she is very well aware of what our bids were and whether they were successful or unsuccessful. She knows perfectly well that they were successful. If any Members think that I can eradicate house unfitness in seven months, they are not living in the real world. I have inherited a housing situation that has been developing over the past 30 years. Those who want to be realistic know that that matter can not be solved overnight. For some 27 years I have been championing the case for Housing Executive tenants in Dungannon District Council. As an estate agent, I have also been working for 30 years in housing. Therefore, as I have said before on the Floor, I do have a little knowledge of housing. I know the complexities and difficulties, and I am quite determined that my Department will be at the cutting edge in tackling the housing situation.

Housing Executive Structure

10. asked the Minister for Social Development to give his assessment of the future structure of the Housing Executive.
(AQO930/00)


At this time I do not envisage any significant changes to the role and functions of the Housing Executive. It will remain as the single comprehensive housing authority in Northern Ireland. I am, however, continually looking at ways to be innovative in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation.


The Minister is aware that when the Minister of Finance and Personnel was speaking on the Budget, he described a study that was going on in the Department for Social Development. May I recommend that the Minister accelerate that and produce its results, having confirmed that it exists.
Can he consider how it was that in the 1980s and 1990s the Housing Executive was able to attract very considerable sums from the private sector, which it is prevented from doing now in the case of house building?


I can only repeat that we are always looking at ways and means of being as innovative and imaginative as possible with regard to the Housing Executive. That is something that we will keep in the forefront, and, in consultation with the Social Development Committee, we will report on it from time to time. I can only reiterate that we will look continually at the situation and that we envisage the Housing Executive as the single, comprehensive housing authority in Northern Ireland for the foreseeable future.


What role does the Housing Executive see for the community groups in the different council areas? Can he confirm that the Housing Executive is considering giving them a bigger say in the estates that they represent, even to the level of considering funding for community groups to look after some of the tenders for work in those estates? Has the Housing Executive considered that matter, is it considering the matter currently, and what are its intentions?


Members should wait to see the new Housing Bill. The Housing Executive continually consults with community groups, housing organisations and associations. We can have a meaningful debate about housing in Northern Ireland when the Bill is published. It is not helpful to speculate, and Members should not speculate on speculation.


The Minister has mentioned the new Housing Bill several times today. Can he indicate when he intends to bring the Bill before the House?


I had hoped to put the Bill before the House before the summer recess, but that is unlikely now. We have lost four months, and, as I have said, the fault is not my Department’s or mine. I regret that four precious and important months have been lost because others could not give direct answers to direct questions. Therefore it is highly unlikely that the Bill will come before the House before the summer recess.

Domestic Energy Efficiency Scheme

12. asked the Minister for Social Development to confirm if he has made an application for extra funding to extend the Domestic Energy Efficiency Scheme; and to make a statement.
(AQO921/00)


The first year’s budget for the new domestic energy efficiency scheme has been increased from £2·88 million to £4 million. If additional funding is required because uptake is greater than anticipated — and if work can be undertaken by installers — a bid for extra funds will be made during the financial year.
Last Friday, simultaneously with England, Scotland and Wales, I launched the United Kingdom fuel poverty strategy. This consultation document outlines the commitment of the Government and the devolved administrations to the eradication of fuel poverty as far as is practical by 2010. The domestic energy efficiency scheme will be the main mechanism by which Northern Ireland hopes to reach that target.


How long will it take to implement the changes?


We hope to launch the scheme in the spring. This period is difficult to gauge because we are not sure what the level of uptake will be. We will be in a better position to ascertain that once the domestic energy efficiency scheme has been launched.
We are trying to eradicate fuel poverty as far as possible by 2010. I accept that it is guesswork, but it is the best guess that we can make. It will be an ongoing process, and we will be better able to gauge the size of the problem when the scheme is up and running. We do have statistics and figures, but those could change as the situation develops.


13. asked the Minister for Social Development to detail plans he has to extend the proposals under the Domestic Energy Efficiency Scheme to those under 60 years of age who are in receipt of incapacity and/or disability benefits.
(AQO887/00)


The purpose of the new domestic energy efficiency scheme is to focus on the most vulnerable groups living in cold homes. Pensioners on low income are deemed to be particularly at risk. That is why the scheme provides greater benefits for them. However, I accept that the disabled, and those in poor health who are under 60 years of age and on low income, are in need of support. Such people may be helped by the Housing Executive adaptation scheme if they qualify for a disabled facilities grant. Whilst there are delays with the process, the Housing Executive has been working hard with the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to reduce waiting times and improve the overall service.
A report on the adaptation process should be available for consultation in April 2001. There is scope for the new domestic energy efficiency scheme (DEES) to complete other grant programmes and vice versa. It will be the responsibility of the new scheme manager, when visiting homes, to determine whether a householder under the age of 60 with a disability merits improved heating standards. Contact will then be made with the relevant authorities in order to initiate the application for adaptation. That is the best approach for the householder; their circumstances can be fully assessed by an occupational therapist. The individual’s medical condition may require other adaptations to areas such as the bathroom or kitchen. Officials will discuss arrangements with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to allow such cases to be fast tracked.


I welcome the Minister’s comments about people who suffer from disability. He spoke about the adaptation programme, which has experienced considerable delays. Under the Programme for Government, the Office of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister has responsibility for ensuring that special emphasis be given to the needs not only of the elderly but of the disabled and other special groups in the provision of social housing. Linked to the Minister’s target of reducing fuel poverty in vulnerable households by improving energy efficiency in 20,000 private sector homes between 2001 and 2004 —


The Member should ask a question.


Does the Minister agree that it is imperative that we find the resources to achieve that objective soon?


The question was in that last line. Resources are finite. A line must be drawn to prevent the scheme from becoming unwieldy and difficult to manage. Resources would become diluted and priority groups would suffer. I wish that there were a scheme with sufficient finance and resources to support all groups. Unfortunately, in the real world that is not the case.


I shall return to the original question. I have raised the issue of discrimination between applicants for help under the scheme. Disabled people under 60 will gain £750 towards heating costs; in comparison, people over 60 who receive benefit will gain £2,000.


The Member will recall my acceptance that a disabled person or a person in poor health under 60 on low income was in need of support. Such a person — if he or she qualifies — may be helped by the Housing Executive’s adaptation scheme with a disabled facilities grant. Such people could have access to that grant and should pursue it.
I hope that that addresses the concerns that the Member has raised, and I encourage her to direct her constituents accordingly.
Adjourned at 4.03 pm.

Sir John Gorman: Questions 7, 12 and 18, standing in the names of Mrs Courtney, Mr Dallat and DrMcDonnell, will receive written answers. Question 11, standing in the name of MrRoger Hutchinson, has been withdrawn.

Enterprise, Trade and Investment

Global Point Development

Mr Wilson Clyde: 1. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to detail the amount of funding allocated to the Global Point development at Ballyhenry, Newtownabbey, in terms of capital funding, site clearance and construction.
(AQO913/00)

Sir Reg Empey: To date, the Industrial Development Board (IDB) has spent £5·1 million on the Global Point development at Ballyhenry. The works, which will result in 100 net usable acres, include major earth works, the construction of access roads and the provision of services and extensive lanscaping works. The total expenditure by the IDB on site development is estimated at £6·7 million.

Mr Jim Wilson: Is the Minister in a position to advise us when buildings are likely to become available for occupation?

Sir Reg Empey: Arrangements are progressing with our partners in this development, Prologis, incorporating detailed provisions for master planning, marketing and future development of infrastructure and building on the park. Only IDB-approved projects will be permitted to locate in the park, but it is expected that the first available unit will be ready for occupation by the end of this year.

Mr David Ford: The business park is situated a short distance from the infamous Sandyknowes roundabout, just on the edge of the A8. It also sits immediately adjacent to the Bleach Green railway line. Has the Minister had any discussions with his Colleague, the Minister for Regional Development, on public transport links to the site?

Sir Reg Empey: I have not personally had a discussion with the Minister for Regional Development, but I know that the issue of railways has been examined very closely. Newtownabbey Borough Council has a particular interest in it, as the site for a halt would be immediately adjacent to its council offices at Mossley Mill.
As the Member points out, there is a huge traffic problem already, and I am quite certain that the developers will be anxious to have the best possible links; a railway halt is one possibility. I know that that is strongly supported by Newtownabbey Borough Council.

Moyle Area: Business Development

Mr Gardiner Kane: 2. asked the Minster of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to confirm his total commitment towards business development in the Moyle District Council area.
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Sir Reg Empey: My Department’s agencies, LEDU and IDB, are committed to working in partnership with the council, the district partnership and organisations such as CORE and Moyle Economic Development Forum to ensure that a holistic approach is adopted towards business development in the Moyle District Council area.

Mr Gardiner Kane: Does the Minister recognise that the lack of manufacturing businesses in the Moyle area and the higher dependence on agriculture — estimated at making up 26% of the workforce — have contributed to higher unemployment and social deprivation? What is likely to be his Department’s response in relation to targeting social need, and what has been the uptake of small business set-up grants from LEDU in the Moyle area compared to other council areas?

Sir Reg Empey: I am aware of the Member’s strong views on those matters; they have been in evidence whenever I have visited the Moyle area, which I have done on several occasions recently. The Member is right to say that there is still a high dependence on agriculture and tourism. He and his colleagues on the council know that we are working hard on the Campbeltown issue and on other plans that, we hope, will help.
However, there is no disguising the fact that there is a lack of facilities in the manufacturing sector in that area. There is land available in the council area; there are 4.2 acres available at Leyland Road. The dependence on agriculture — an area of particular concern at the moment — highlights the difficulty of creating balanced economies in district council areas.
The situation in the Moyle area is not ideal. There is dependence on agriculture and tourism, both of which are subject to considerable fluctuation. However, LEDU has a number of companies in the Moyle District Council area which have received letters of offer and are doing reasonably well. I accept that the situation is less satisfactory, so far as IDB is concerned.
I assure the Member that there is no lack of commitment on the part of the Department or myself to ensure, in conjunction with IDB and LEDU, that his district gets as fair a share as possible. However, we cannot dictate to companies where they should start up. I know that his council is working closely with LEDU, under the Business Start programme and other programmes, and I hope that that partnership will continue.

Mr Danny O'Connor: As the Moyle District Council area adjoins my constituency, I too am concerned about the level of unemployment in that district. Does the Minister agree that, through the Causeway Coast and Glens tourism consortium, there is real potential for the creation of jobs in the tourism industry? Is he taking steps to reopen the Ballycastle to Campbeltown ferry service?

Sir Reg Empey: I understand that the Moyle District Council area has the highest unemployment rate in Northern Ireland. It vies with Strabane for that unenviable title, so we must be conscious of the difficulties. The Causeway Coast consortium, as with many other self-help tourism efforts, deserves our support. We work closely with Moyle council, because some of the best potential tourist assets anywhere on this island are concentrated within that area, and I wish to see it prosper. The Glens, as well as the Giant’s Causeway and other sites, present wonderful opportunities to bring visitors to the Province.
I accept that it is a TSN area and that it requires special treatment. My Colleague, Dr Farren, is particularly aware of the training and employment needs in the district. The tourist board will do all that it can to ensure that Moyle District Council area is given the best opportunities for employment creation.

Mr James Leslie: I note what the Minister said about tourism. He is right in saying that the Giant’s Causeway must be the number one tourist attraction in Ireland. However, it is not just a matter of attracting coaches filled with day trippers, as has been the case hitherto. To make a difference to the Moyle District Council area, we need visitors to stay overnight, preferably for a week or a fortnight. There are plenty of facilities for tourists, particularly along the coastline and in the Glens of Antrim, but such facilities must be properly promoted.
Can the Minister reassure the House that the all-Ireland tourist body will not simply be a device for sending one-day visitors by coach from the Republic? It should spend a sufficient proportion of its budget to ensure that there is a significant increase in the number of overnight visitors to the area.

Sir Reg Empey: The issue of overnight visitors is key. Coach trips are welcome, but recently visitors have been coming to Northern Ireland for the day and returning to the Republic to spend the night. This is partly due to the currency issue. Regrettably it is also because of other circumstances which make some overnight stays unsatisfactory. The Northern Ireland Tourist Board is acutely aware of the problem. The bulk of profit from tourism — apart from people’s visiting amenities — is generated by money spent on accommodation, food and entertainment. Clearly, the potential spend is at a minimum with a day trip, and at a maximum with an overnight stay.
The hon Member is preaching to the converted in requiring that emphasis. We do our best to ensure that the accommodation is of the highest quality. We have had extensive talks with the coach companies, and some of them are increasing the number of coach visits to Northern Ireland. However, that tends to be at the shoulder of the season because of the problem we have in Northern Ireland in the summer. Until that problem is resolved, it will be difficult to achieve the desired level of overnight stays.

Consumer Strategy

Dr Esmond Birnie: 3. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to outline his policy on the new consumer strategy.
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Sir Reg Empey: Creating and implementing a new consumer strategy, as foreshadowed in the draft Programme for Government, will involve a two-tier approach. My Department will prepare a Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment strategy to focus on consumer issues and areas directly relevant to it. I propose to use the strategy as a template to address consumer areas in which other Departments have interests and where there is the potential for a joined-up government approach, thereby creating a consumer strategy for Northern Ireland.

Dr Esmond Birnie: What steps will be taken to ensure that young people have increased awareness of their rights as consumers?

Sir Reg Empey: The strategy will contain a number of key themes — increased education on information for consumers, improved access to high-quality advice, improved representation for consumers, promoting consumer orientation of businesses and better communications and understanding of consumer affairs. The General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland has an exceptional web site that recently won national awards. That is a direct way of communicating with young people, more of whom have a propensity to use the Internet.
Placing the consumer strategy in schools is another area that I am keen to investigate. Many young people are specifically and deliberately targeted by commercial organisations and are influenced in some controversial areas. The question is a very interesting one, and I will ensure that it is drawn to the attention of my Department, the General Consumer Council for Northern Ireland and the Trading Standards Branch.

Small to Medium Enterprises

Mr Joe Byrne: 4. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to outline how locally promoted small to medium enterprises (SMEs) can best be served by the new single economic development agency for Northern Ireland.
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Sir Reg Empey: Northern Ireland is primarily a small firms economy. This will be reflected in the priority given to small to medium-sized entreprises in the new agency. The agency will play a key strategic role in small business development. I envisage that a significant proportion of the agency’s resources will be targeted at promoting innovation and best practice in the small and medium-sized enterprise sector.

Mr Joe Byrne: I welcome the Minister’s answer. Will he ensure that the new development agency — through its area officers — is adequately manned, to ensure that client executives who work with SMEs are not based in Belfast only?
Does he accept the merit of having client executives based in particular territories and working from area offices? Some in the SME sector feel that the client executive in the manufacturing and engineering sectors has to work out of Belfast and travel 80 miles to Tyrone or Fermanagh. People feel that they are a wee bit left out and that communication and consultation is disrupted.

Sir Reg Empey: I am aware of the point made by a number of Members about the agency. I give a commitment that the new agency will have a regional dimension; there should be no doubt about that. The regional dimension will involve something other than the current office structure of LEDU. The IDB, as Members know, does not have offices outside Belfast. Therefore, to achieve any coherence in helping a local region, the agency must provide a comprehensive service to potential customers in the different areas within that region. While the detail has not been worked out, the commitment to have a regional dimension is absolute. For that commitment to be meaningful the agency, through its regional offices, must be capable of delivering a holistic service to the community.

Mr Derek Hussey: I welcome the Minister’s comment that the focus of the new agency will be to help with innovation. I also welcome his remarks regarding the regional representation of the new agency. I am sure he will accept that the greatest potential for innovation is in our small and medium-sized businesses. These businesses need assistance to turn a dream or a workable idea into a reality, thus generating employment.
Can the Minister assure me that established and emerging local firms will receive at least the same attention as the large multinationals he hopes to attract?

Sir Reg Empey: "Team West Tyrone" is very obvious. Mr Gibson is not here, but he may emerge at any moment.
Northern Ireland is primarily a small and medium-sized enterprise economy, as the Member knows. Well over 90% of our employers are small to medium-size businesses. It follows that unless we have a strategy to address their specific needs, we will fail to deal with the potential for growth. In other developing economies — and, indeed, in the United States — the growth in employment has not been in Fortune 500 companies; it has been in small to medium-size enterprises.
I assure the Member that, despite a lot of publicity inward investment gets, indigenous or small companies create the vast majority of new jobs. In an economy, you need inward investment to ensure that you bring in new ideas, new scales and international connections.
I assure the Member that the emphasis is on ensuring that small to medium-sized enterprises have the capabilities, are competitive, are provided with the capacity to function and the tools to do so. We are trying to do that through rolling out broad-band technology, the creation of a new agency, training and through a whole range of technical assistance, which is currently given by the Industrial Research and Technology Unit.
Therefore the Member can be assured that the emphasis will not be largely or exclusively on the attraction of inward investment. It will be across the board because that is where new jobs will be created.

Ms Mary Nelis: Go raibh maith agat, a LeasCheann Comhairle.
I am very encouraged by the Minister’s answers. Will he consider that the Foyle constituency merits the location of a regional office to service the growth of the SME sector? I am sure he is aware that that sector in Foyle suffered as a result of the closure of the IDB offices.

Sir Reg Empey: I have repeatedly made the commitment to the House — and I reiterated it a short time ago — that the new agency will have a regional focus. I am reluctant to say exactly where those offices might be. A range of considerations must be taken into account when making those decisions. I do not propose to tell the hon Member today what the specific situation will be in the Foyle area. All I will say is that the agency will have a strong regional focus.

Rev Dr Ian Paisley: Given the catastrophe that the agriculture industry is facing, I am sure that the Minister will agree that the only possible and viable strength that communities in rural districts have will lie largely with tourism. That being so, can he assure me that those small and medium-sized businesses linked to tourism will be given the utmost consideration when they put their plans forward?

Sir Reg Empey: I agree with the hon Member that the industry currently faces a catastrophe. No doubt he will be aware that areas over which I have responsibility — namely, the processing sector — are also facing a serious situation. While we sit, many people are idle, and companies have been effectively suspended, unable to send products out of Northern Ireland or to process them. Therefore I appreciate acutely the significance of the Member’s point.
With regard to tourism, the Assembly treats it as a business. That is why it falls under my Department and not under the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, as on the mainland. The Member will also be aware that the Northern Ireland Tourist Board’s business support services will be transferred into the new agency which is being established to deal with all economic matters. That is being done to ensure high quality and consistency in service.
I give the Member the assurance that he seeks: we regard tourism businesses as a very viable alternative. Rural development, as he is aware, is one of the key themes emerging throughout the European Community, and it applies significantly to his constituency. Subject to market conditions, we will deal with those companies and provide them with the best possible assistance available.

‘Best of Northern Ireland’ Exhibition

Mr Roy Beggs: 6. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to confirm that he intends to be present at the ‘Best of Northern Ireland’ exhibition at the Houses of Parliament; and to make a statement.
(AQO938/00)

Sir Reg Empey: I understand why the hon Member might have some interest in this question. I wish to thank MrRoy Beggs Snr for securing the opportunity to host the exhibition and confirm that it is my intention to attend. The exhibition will provide an excellent opportunity to promote Northern Ireland and, in particular, to emphasise examples of innovation and excellence drawn from all aspects of the Province’s life. I look forward to the exhibition later this week.

Mr Roy Beggs: On the basis of previous exhibitions, what practical benefits does the Minister foresee coming from it?

Sir Reg Empey: Mr Deputy Speaker, you may be aware that a ballot is periodically held in the House of Commons to provide Members with the opportunity to host exhibitions in the House. Mr Roy Beggs Snr was successful in that regard. We will use this as a major opportunity to market a range of activities in Northern Ireland. It will be held from 26 February to 2 March in the Upper Waiting Room, and I hope that the Prime Minister will formally open it.
Our objective is to give a positive and forward-looking image of Northern Ireland to a wide variety of Members of Parliament and invited guests including potential investors, key influencers, existing investors and trade contacts.
Also, IDB will be helping Mr Beggs host a number of events alongside the exhibition in which we will network with people whom we consider to be potential investors and with people who are interested in doing business. It is important that we present a positive and constructive image to the business community at every opportunity that arises, and I believe that this exhibition provides such a platform.

North/South Gas Pipeline

Mr Seamus Close: 8. asked the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Investment to outline proposals to build a North/South natural gas pipeline.
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Sir Reg Empey: The position regarding a South/North natural gas pipeline remains as stated in my reply to question AQO473/00. I have recently received an initial proposal for a South/North pipeline flowing from the Republic to Northern Ireland which is currently being assessed by my Department and the gas regulator.

Mr Seamus Close: I thank the Minister for his reply, but does he not agree that it would have been more in Northern Ireland’s interest to have this pipe and the commencement of the work running North/South rather than the reverse?

Sir Reg Empey: I am inclined to agree. However, one has to understand that the gas industry in Northern Ireland is privatised, and the function of my Department is to regulate along with the gas regulator. We can only react and give licences if a specific proposal is put to us. So far, Bord Gais in the Republic has put forward a proposal, which we are currently evaluating. It is the only proposal that has formally been put before us, and we will have to deal with that as best we can.
The Republic’s decision about where it is going to get its new gas supplies has been delayed on a number of occasions in the last six weeks, and that has slowed things down. There is also the question of the levy and various other matters. All I can say is that a firm proposal which has been put to us is currently being evaluated, and the hon Member knows only too well that we are very keen to see a positive resolution with regard to both North/South and north-west.

Mr Eddie McGrady: In view of the Minister’s remarks to Mr Close, can he indicate what progress has been made in negotiations between the director general of the Office for the Regulation of Electricity and Gas (OFREG) and Premier Transmissions on the granting of a gas licence for the south-eastern region of Northern Ireland? What steps will the Department take to encourage potential developers to expand this much needed energy into other areas of the distribution networks? Are there any applications or negotiations ongoing to provide natural gas to the south-east of Northern Ireland?

Sir Reg Empey: The answer to the last part of the Member’s question is "Yes". Regarding the negotiations, I personally have had two meetings with representatives of Bord Gais in the last six weeks. Discussions are ongoing. So far as Premier Transmissions is concerned, I have no proposal from that company before me at present. The only one we have is from Bord Gais, and we can only deal with the proposal that we have.
Of course, I have met Premier and other private companies on a number of occasions, and it is no secret that I personally — and it is the Department’s preferential choice — would prefer a North/South pipeline which would supply power stations in the Greater Dublin area and a north-west power station which would supply Coolkeeragh and allow us to feed the towns en route, both south-east and north-west. However, I repeat that we are only able to deal with an application if it is in front of us, and only one is currently being evaluated.

Mr Edwin Poots: Does the Minister believe that it is feasible to have both a north-west pipeline and a pipeline that goes to the south-east with a North/South interconnector? If he does not believe that that is feasible, what is his preference? With regard to the value to the economy and the numbers of people using it, the south-east pipeline would be perceived by people living in that area as being of equal or greater value than that of the north-west pipeline.

Sir Reg Empey: A meaningful energy market and a competitive gas market are both necessary. I want to see an integrated market because one power station consumes 20 times more gas than all the domestic consumption en route to it. Without the base load, the economics of any pipeline are severely restricted. To use an analogy, it is like having a shopping centre with no anchor tenant.
There is a scheme available. However, no formal application has been made to provide a north-west pipeline to feed Coolkeeragh, which would allow the towns en route to access natural gas. Similarly, the departmental view is that a North/South pipeline should run from Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland to feed new power station developments in the Greater Dublin area, thereby having base loads at each end of the two pipes.
That would also create a unified network across the island because the Corrib gas field, which is to come on-stream, would be able to sell into Northern Ireland’s market and we would be able to sell into the Republic of Ireland’s. There would then be two pipelines — one to Ballylumford from Scotland, and the existing one from Scotland to the Republic of Ireland. That is the ideal solution, but the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment is not in control of matters because it is up to the private companies to make their applications. The Department can only respond on receipt of those applications.

Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment

Sir John Gorman: Questions 1, 6, 12 and 20, standing in the names of Mr Dallat, Mrs Courtney, Dr McDonnell and Mr Neeson, will receive written answers. Question 13, standing in the name of MrRoger Hutchinson, has been withdrawn.

Executive Programme Funds

Mr Tommy Gallagher: 2. asked the Minister of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment to detail the bids made by his Department for Executive programme funds.
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Dr Sean Farren: The Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment has submitted seven bids for Executive programme funds. They are bids for: increasing provision for adult basic education; improving physical access to further education and higher education institutions for disabled people; improving links between business and education; a new major further education building project; developing on-line service delivery and job centres (there are two separate bids for that); and developing childminding networks. Those bids amount to £23·48 million over three years.

Mr Tommy Gallagher: I thank the Minister for that information. Which of those bids does he consider to be a priority?

Dr Sean Farren: All the bids are of considerable importance; and none would have been made had it not been so. None of them can be regarded lightly. However, my priority is adult basic education, and I am sure that many Members, if not all, appreciate the urgent need to address deficits in basic literacy and numeracy. Those have been highlighted by international and domestic reports in recent years. Improved physical access for the disabled at further and higher education institutions and the improvement of links between Northern Ireland business and education partnerships also deserve priority.
One in four adults in Northern Ireland has some literacy or numeracy difficulty.
If we are serious about promoting social inclusion and developing a fairer society, this problem must be addressed effectively. It is a major barrier to social and economic inclusion, which is not always acknowledged. We also need to have regard to developments in Great Britain and the Republic in which substantial investments have been made. I trust that this bid will be successful and that we will not only avoid falling behind our neighbours in terms of their provision but will advance quite rapidly towards eliminating the deficits among so many in our adult population.

Further Education Colleges: Enrolment

Mr Paul Berry: 3. asked the Minister of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment to give his assessment of current enrolment at further education colleges.
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Dr Sean Farren: I am pleased to inform the Member and the House that enrolments in further education colleges have risen to 89,379 in 1999-2000. That is an increase of 3,000 on the previous year.
Information on the current academic year is not yet available, as students are still enrolling in some courses. However, we can regard the increases that have been taking place as significant and very satisfactory. They indicate the desire and determination of school leavers and those of maturer years to avail of the training and educational opportunities available in further education colleges.

Mr Paul Berry: I thank Minister Farren for his announcement. Is he aware of the tension in higher and further education colleges over the underfunding of students? Does he have any plans to review that situation?

Dr Sean Farren: In recent months we have frequently addressed, in one way or another, the questions associated with student financial support. Members will be aware that I have gone to considerable lengths to emphasise the importance I place on the further education sector, in the House and elsewhere. I have also voiced my concern to ensure that students in the sector are as adequately supported as possible.
Before Christmas, I announced new arrangements for student financial support. These include significant improvements and are now the subject of detailed analysis and determination by my Department and the Department of Finance and Personnel. I trust that they will be seen as significant improvements for students in the further education sector.

Mr Eddie McGrady: Is the Minister aware that the current enrolment for full-time HND courses in the East Down Institute of Further and Higher Education is restricted to building engineering? Does he agree that with the developments in commerce courses must be provided in computing, information technology and software engineering if the local community is to sustain itself economically? Will the Minister reconsider the restriction on full-time courses and allow the East Down Institute of Further and Higher Education to expand its curriculum and, therefore, its enrolment?

Dr Sean Farren: Over recent years, additional places have been made available in the further education sector to enable colleges to provide higher education courses such as HNDs.
The allocation of additional places to particular colleges must take account of the criteria set down to enable colleges to indicate clearly that they are in a position to deliver on particular courses. In 1999 the then Department of Education awarded the East Down Institute 32 full-time higher education places over the next two years in the vocational area of construction.
That was the first year in which the Department was able to allocate full-time higher education places to the institute. All colleges approved to deliver full-time higher education must operate within an allocated number of places known as the maximum student number — MaSN, as it is generally called. It has been noted that the institute has so far used 16 of the 32 places over the two-year period. The institute’s allocation formed part of the additional 600 places allocated to the further education sector following the comprehensive spending review. In addition, a further cohort of up to 100 HND places in the vocational areas of software engineering and electronics have been introduced in the current year. Any further increase will be dependent on additional resources becoming available and being distributed in the light of existing priorities. It will also be dependent on the colleges meeting the criteria that have been set down, thus demonstrating that they have the capacity to provide courses in any particular area.

Mr Ken Robinson: I thank the Minister for his answers. I notice that he has placed top priority on the basic skills element of further and higher education. Will the Minister assure the House that his Department will focus its efforts upon colleges such as the East Antrim Institute for Further and Higher Education, to enable them to expand the numbers on programmes such as LEAF? That initiative is targeted at clients in marginalised estates in Newtownabbey, who are currently unable to access the main college campus, so that they may benefit from any economic expansion at the Global Point site in Newtownabbey.

Dr Sean Farren: In all the further education colleges that I have had the privilege of visiting so far — I am trying to include a visit to every college in the current academic year — I have been impressed by the extent to which they are involved in outreach of the kind referred to by Mr Robinson. In particular, I have been impressed with the outreach aimed at providing courses in basic skills and, beyond that, in providing opportunities to access further and higher education — particularly for those who have not had these opportunities before.
The Department is committed to encouraging all the colleges to maintain and expand upon this provision. Obviously — as in all these respects — resources are critical in determining the extent to which the provision can be made. However, it is provision that is being made very effectively by many colleges, and — I am pleased to say — many people are benefiting from the very determined outreach approach that colleges in all parts of Northern Ireland are making in this important matter.

Skill Shortages

Mr Mervyn Carrick: 5. asked the Minister of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment to detail the steps he is taking to address the external skills shortages identified in the Northern Ireland skills monitoring survey 2000.
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Mr Edwin Poots: 9. asked the Minister of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment to detail what areas of skill shortage he has identified and to outline the steps he is taking to address them.
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Mr Joe Byrne: 15. asked the Minister of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment to detail discussions he has undertaken with specific employment sectors on the issue of skills shortages.
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Dr Sean Farren: With your agreement, Mr Deputy Speaker, I intend to answer questions 5, 9 and 15 together, as they all touch on similar issues.
The recent skills monitoring report provides essential information that will assist in targeting resources on specific industry sectors and occupations where skills needs exist. It is one of a number of sources of information brought together by the skills task force.
In addressing skills needs, I meet regularly with industry representatives on a sectoral, cross-sectoral and individual basis. As a consequence, a range of initiatives has been put in place, including additional targeted higher and further education places and additional modern apprenticeships. I shall remind Members of a response that I made on one occasion regarding the ‘Back to your Future’ initiative which my Department launched before Christmas. This initiative was designed to put current job opportunities before expatriates in the IT and telecom sectors — particularly for those with a number of years of experience. We are experiencing a considerable shortage of experienced personnel in a number of our enterprises and are anxious to encourage our own people who have these skills to come back and avail of these opportunities. Perhaps Members could play a role by bringing news of new opportunities to the attention of acquaintances who possess such skills. These openings are available on an unprecedented level, offering worthwhile career opportunities and quality of life.

Mr Mervyn Carrick: The Minister has referred to the Northern Ireland Skills Monitoring Survey, 2000. Of all "difficult to fill" vacancies, 43% are based on either a lack of practical skills, a lack of technical skills, a lack of qualifications or a lack of work experience. What immediate steps can the Minister take to address the more prevalent skill shortages? For example, the construction industry has a shortage of 60%; business services suffer a shortage of 56%; and the manufacturing sector is crippled by a shortage of 47%. In addition, the most prevalent external skill shortages in the associated professional and technical occupations amount to 72%. There is a shortage of 52% among managerial and administrative occupations.
(Mr Speaker in the Chair)

Dr Sean Farren: I compliment the Member for his familiarity with the report. Lest percentages deceive us, the report identifies the fact that only approximately 20% to 21% of surveyed employers reported difficulties in recruiting for their vacancies. Therefore, a significant majority are not encountering levels of difficulty of the kind that the Member has drawn to our attention. Of those employers who are encountering difficulties in filling vacancies, some have experienced acute levels of difficulty.
With regard to the immediate steps we are taking, we are in constant contact with the various sectoral training councils, and we work closely with them on all of the training programs. We are also in regular contact with the further education colleges and the universities. Therefore numbers are increased in accordance with the information available to us in respect of training at all levels. We must view our difficulties in the context of the pressures that arise on the labour market — not just internally in Northern Ireland, but also those created by the situations that have emerged in the South.
The need for specific skills in the construction industry has obliged businesses to seek workers from far beyond the shores of Ireland and Britain. The pressures and the associated levels of remuneration cannot be ignored, given the effect that they have on our internal labour market. We should not be complacent; rather we should continue to monitor and address the matter and work with the training providers to ensure that we are meeting the needs of all sectors of the economy to the best of our ability.

Mr Edwin Poots: I thank the Deputy Chairperson of the Higher and Further Education Committee for answering the first part of my question.
Does he recognise that the greatest barrier to eradicating unemployment in Northern Ireland is not an unwillingness among investors to come into the Province? Rather, it is the fact that they cannot get people who are skilled to do the job. What does he intend to do to get unemployed people into a position in which they are able to begin active employment ?

Dr Sean Farren: We have to be careful about how we describe the scale of the difficulties. The difficulties relate specifically to several expanding sectors of the economy. We need to provide these sectors with the skills of experienced people. That is what motivates Attract Back-style programmes. In a few weeks’ time I hope to be in New York at a major jobs fair, where companies from Northern Ireland and the Republic will draw the attention of our expatriates in that part of the world to the opportunities now available, particularly in the IT sector.
Members should examine the range of training programmes which we provide, directly and indirectly, through our colleges and universities, at basic NVQ level and above. A considerable amount of effort is being made to ensure that we have skilled workers available. There are tailor-made programmes which can be put together under the Bridge to Employment initiative. Employers who identify particular needs can be assisted by the Training and Employment Agency to recruit, and have trained for them, workers who can have a very good opportunity to obtain employment in those enterprises associated with the Bridge to Employment initiative programmes.
We have taken further initiatives by holding discussions with some of the most recent investors, during which we asked them to identify their skills needs and provide in-service courses. When workers are recruited they are guaranteed opportunities on training programmes — with the support of their employers — to acquire certain skills. Such initiatives, and many others, demonstrate a very clear determination on the part of my Department to meet the skills needs of all investors, indigenous or foreign.

Mr Joe Byrne: Does the Minister accept that quality training, particularly in craft and practical skills, can only be provided over a longer term? The current short-term training schemes do not meet the needs of young unemployed people or of the long-term unemployed.
Will the Minister consider increasing resources for modern apprenticeships to provide more worthwhile, value-added training, especially for young people? I am aware that Shorts Bombardier has an excellent training scheme in engineering and technical skills. Perhaps this could be replicated across Northern Ireland.

Dr Sean Farren: The Member and others in the House should be assured that the formal training programmes available are accessible within an agreed national framework — one which involves the employers through the various sector training councils. The Member mentioned the case of Shorts Bombardier. These courses are designed from the outset to make sure that they meet the needs of the sectors or enterprises.
I hesitate to suggest that any of the courses are inadequate in terms of the needs of the particular sectors or industries. Where there are inadequacies, they tend to be revealed in the course of ongoing monitoring of the achievements and skills levels of those who acquire their NVQ awards and those who complete modern apprenticeships. Any shortcomings will, I trust, be quickly identified and addressed, so that we can guarantee to existing and future employers a workforce trained and skilled to the highest standards of the sectors they are preparing to enter.

Mr Speaker: We are not making particularly good progress through the questions, so I ask Members to be as concise as possible in the last five minutes or so.

Dr Esmond Birnie: I note the Minister’s comments about shortages of experienced workers. Does he agree that on occasions employers are their own worst enemies because they impose arbitrary restrictions with respect to age, practising a form of ageism? They exclude applicants who are aged over 25, 35 or 45. Other employers demand graduates when a sub-degree level qualification would be adequate for the job in hand.

Dr Sean Farren: I agree up to a point with the Member’s comments with respect to the approaches adopted by certain employers. In the course of recent surveys it has been identified that some employers, when seeking to recruit, demand a higher level of qualification than is necessary. Many graduates have had to emigrate because they could not obtain employment here. The oversupply of graduates may well have conditioned employers to seek graduates rather than workers with other levels of skills. That is a matter which employers need to address.
With respect to the issue of ageism, employers are encouraged to follow the guidance in the voluntary code of practice on age diversity in employment which was circulated in June 1999 by the then Department of Economic Development. My Department also helps older workers back into employment through New Deal 50+. Members are probably aware that there is currently no legislation on discrimination in employment on grounds of age, although we could expect this to be considered in the context of the proposed single Equality Bill.

Disabled People: Employment

Rev William McCrea: 7. asked the Minister of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment to detail the steps he is taking to help people who become disabled whilst in employment to keep their jobs.
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Dr Sean Farren: My Department’s disablement advisory service provides a range of help to people in these circumstances. Financial and practical support is available through the access to work and employment support programmes. Advice is also provided by disablement employment advisers based in jobcentres and supported by occupational psychologists.

Rev William McCrea: The Programme for Government states that the disabled are to be given special consideration. Does the Minister not understand that many of the disabled — and I am speaking about those who become disabled while in employment — feel disadvantaged and therefore need and deserve more positive protection?

Dr Sean Farren: I have to confess that I am not aware of cases in which those who became disabled in the course of employment were not able to avail of support. As I indicated in my response, there are forms of support available to them, and I trust that these are being drawn to their attention and that employers themselves are aware of the kind of support that can be made available. Certainly if there were any failure to provide that kind of support, I would be very concerned. If the Member has particular cases in mind, I would be only too pleased to receive the details and follow them up in correspondence or more directly with him.

Mr Eugene McMenamin: Is the Department in a position to meet all demands for disabled access?

Dr Sean Farren: I take it that the Member refers to the bid for Executive programme funds, which I mentioned earlier when I said that the Department was making a special bid for additional funds in order to ensure that our further and higher education institutions have effective and adequate access for the disabled. Obviously the fact that we are making such a bid indicates that the situation is not yet a completely satisfactory one. We trust that, in a very short period, we will be able to remove the current backlogs. I am aware that many institutions are already taking steps on their own initiative to ensure that disabled access is available.

Mr Speaker: Order. Will the Minister please bring his remarks to a close. We are now beyond the time allotted for questions to him.

Social Development

Mr Speaker: Questions 4, 11 and 14, standing in the names of Dr McDonnell, Mr Neeson and Mr Dallat, will receive written answers. Question 8, standing in the name of Mr Roger Hutchinson, has been withdrawn.

Urban Renewal (Rathfriland)

Mr P J Bradley: 1. asked the Minister for Social Development to detail his commitment towards the urban renewal of Rathfriland.
(AQO892/00)

Mr Maurice Morrow: While my Department has no immediate proposals for the urban renewal of Rathfriland, I point out that, in partnership with the International Fund for Ireland, over £800,000 was provided for the community regeneration project in Rathfriland which was opened in 1998. My Department’s input was £350,775.

Mr P J Bradley: I thank the Minister for the figures. In the past, Rathfriland was one of south Down’s most buoyant towns, and a wide section of the community sold its produce and purchased what it needed there. Unfortunately this is no longer the case. Commercial properties are closing weekly, and fears are being expressed about violent undercurrents that are posing a threat to an element of society in the area. Does the Minister agree that Rathfriland and other such deprived areas would benefit socially from a more buoyant local economy?

Mr Maurice Morrow: The quick answer to that is yes. In Rathfriland, as in other towns across the Province, grant aid of up to 30% is available to owners for the refurbishment of derelict private property under the International Fund for Ireland’s urban development programme, which is administered by the Department.

Antisocial Behaviour (Antrim Area): Action against Tenants

Mr Wilson Clyde: 2. asked the Minister for Social Development to detail the number of actions that have been taken against tenants in relation to antisocial behaviour in the Antrim area in the last 12 months.
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Mr Maurice Morrow: This is a matter for the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, whose chief executive has advised that, in the Antrim district during the period from 1 April 2000 to 9 February 2001, one notice seeking possession arising from the tenants’ antisocial behaviour has been served and that a further 31 cases are at different stages of investigation. While the Housing Executive has limited scope for action in some cases of antisocial behaviour, such as noise and pet nuisance, 38 such cases have been referred to Antrim Borough Council’s environmental health department for action.

Mr Wilson Clyde: What action does the Housing Executive take in cases of antisocial behaviour?

Mr Maurice Morrow: The Housing Executive usually tries to deal with antisocial behaviour through mediation, using its neighbourhood disputes system. However, when mediation does not produce the desired result, the Housing Executive has a range of available options. The Housing Executive has also set up a central antisocial behaviour unit, which includes an officer seconded from the RUC, who will help district offices to deal with the worst cases.

Dr Joe Hendron: When paramilitaries put drug pushers out of their homes, these unconvicted drug pushers can go to the top of Housing Executive lists. Does the Minister agree that the correct way to deal with such people is through a Housing Executive antisocial order, so that if these people leave their homes, they do not go to the top of a Housing Executive list in a nearby area?

Mr Maurice Morrow: I thank Dr Hendron for his question, which has also been raised by a number of other Members, both orally and in writing. We propose to bring forward new housing legislation which we hope will address this issue adequately. The present housing legislation is not only inadequate for dealing with this situation; it is also intolerable and unacceptable.

Mr Conor Murphy: A Cheann Comhairle, the Minister will be aware that problems with troublesome tenants who cause difficulties for their neighbours is not confined to the Antrim area; it is widespread throughout all constituencies. Will he encourage the Housing Executive’s mediation facility that he has mentioned to deal constructively with community restorative justice groups in areas that are trying to tackle the problem of antisocial behaviour?

Mr Maurice Morrow: The Housing Executive deals actively with different groups and organisations on antisocial behaviour, which is like a cancer running through our whole system. I have had direct representation from tenants who approached me as the Minister with responsibility. I know that it is of little comfort to them when I say that I have sympathy with their plight. They do not want sympathy; they want action. I reiterate what I said to Dr Hendron: that I hope that the new Housing Bill will deal effectively with this problem. I had hoped that the Bill would be at a more advanced stage. The fault does not lie with me or with my Department; it lies elsewhere. However, I trust that the Bill will come before the House in the near future.

Disability Living Allowance: Appeals

Mr Eddie McGrady: 3. asked the Minister for Social Development to outline how long it takes to process appeal papers in respect of disability living allowance; and to make a statement.
(AQO882/00)

Mr Maurice Morrow: There are currently delays of six to eight months in the resolution of disability living allowance appeals. Owing to the introduction of new legislation in October 1999, there was an unprecedented increase in the number of disability living allowance appeals being received by the Department, and there is a backlog of work. In response to that, the Department implemented a recovery plan and recruited additional staff to deal with the extra work. Those plans are beginning to result in a reduction in the backlog, but it will be some time before service returns to normal. It is prudent that I apologise to all customers affected by those problems.

Mr Eddie McGrady: I thank the Minister for his positive reply. I know that he shares — as do most Assembly Members — our concern about the six to eight months’ delay with appeals for disability living allowance. Those who suffer from that delay are disabled people and people with family problems who are without that money for a lengthy period and find it extremely difficult. The Minister has indicated that he has put additional personnel on the job. Can he mirror the social services unit that is specifically dedicated — not seconded to do a part-time job — to eradicating this unacceptable delay for those sensitive people whose welfare, literally, is dependent on receiving their benefits when they are due? He is sympathetic, but we must take more specific action.

Mr Maurice Morrow: The Member is right. I am more than sympathetic. We have taken decisive action to address the problem, and we hope that we are making a definite impact. I have some figures that might interest the Member and the House. There are currently 857 appeals to be dealt with by the Disability Living Allowance Branch. The number is decreasing steadily, and it is estimated that it will be reduced to normal levels by mid-summer. There are almost 1,400 to be listed for hearing at a formal appeal; that makes a total of 2,257 outstanding appeals. I trust that that will, in some way, convey to the Member and the House the volume of the workload which we are dealing with effectively. Better days lie ahead. I hope that for the Member, for the House and for me.

Mr Seamus Close: In relation to problems over disability living allowance, what steps is the Minister taking to eradicate what have been referred to as "clerical errors" in the processing of the forms? Does he agree that perhaps a simplification of the form given to those seeking that benefit would go a long way towards eradicating the errors, and thus the appeal process, which he currently has to deal with?

Mr Maurice Morrow: That is not as simple as the Member makes out. It would be much easier for me to stand here and say that we had a system that was so simple that everyone’s case would be dealt with overnight. I wish that that was the case, but many situations must be taken into account. Let me reassure the Member that extensive overtime is being worked by the appeals tribunal. Moreover, the number of appeal writers has been increased by over 100% — from 15 to 35. Following a training period for the last group of 10, additional staff will start to write appeals from this month.
The action taken to manage the build-up in the appeals process centres is as follows: six additional staff are being recruited; overtime working has been approved; cross-training of medical panel members has taken place; the average number of weekly sessions for all benefit-related appeals has increased from 79 to 93; and additional, legally-qualified and medical, panel members will be recruited through the Northern Ireland Court Service. There can be only one impact, and that is that the situation will get better.

Mr Speaker: The House will note that Members who take the trouble to get their names on the list often find that we do not reach them. Therefore I am trying to adhere to the list as much as possible and move on. Mr Ervine is not able to be here for question 5.

Hawthorn Grove, Carrickfergus: Housing Executive Redevelopment

Mr Roy Beggs: 6. asked the Minister for Social Development to advise (a) of any proposals by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to redevelop Hawthorn Grove, Carrickfergus and (b) when redevelopment plans can be expected to be made public.
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Mr Maurice Morrow: There are at present no plans to redevelop Hawthorn Grove, Carrickfergus. The Housing Executive’s chief executive has advised that the bungalows at Hawthorn Grove are proposed for demolition. This decision was based on the extensive vandalism that has taken place, the fact that the dwellings have been subject to severe oil pollution and absence of demand in the area for that specific type of accomodation. This line of action will ensure that the site can be thoroughly decontaminated, leaving it available for future development.

Mr Roy Beggs: Does the Minister accept that two years of disrepair is an unacceptable length of time before consideration is given? There must be a more streamlined system for addressing smaller schemes. This facility has not generated possible rent income for that time. Secondly, does he accept that there is a need for disabled pensioners’ two-bedroomed bungalows in Carrickfergus, and will consideration be given to allowing such development on this site?

Mr Maurice Morrow: The Member is correct in saying that there is a high demand for accommodation with two bedrooms or more, but not for these single-bedroomed bungalows. I agree that the consideration time is too long and that it is unacceptable. I want to look at that very carefully with the Housing Executive to ensure that the situation there is speeded up. I will certainly take it on board.

Unfit Housing

Mr Tommy Gallagher: 7. asked the Minister for Social Development to state the current level of unfit housing in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) County Fermanagh.
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Mr Maurice Morrow: The latest available figures from the 1996 Northern Ireland house conditions survey show that there were 43,970 unfit dwellings — representing 7·3 % of the total housing stock. In the Fermanagh District Council area the figure for unfit dwellings was 3,510 — representing 17·5% of the total housing stock.

Mr Tommy Gallagher: It is a serious and unfortunate situation that unfit housing is worse in Fermanagh than in anywhere else in Ireland, England, Scotland or Wales. The Minister, I am sure, is aware that many of those who occupy unfit housing in County Fermanagh do so because they made minor mistakes when they were filling in their application forms. This resulted in the issue of closing orders on those properties. The closing orders, as we know, are now preventing some needy cases from making fresh applications for replacement dwellings. Does the Minister agree that in order to tackle the issue of unfit housing effectively in Fermanagh, there is a compelling case for a review of all the closing orders that have been issued? Will he direct the Housing Executive to get that review underway now?

Mr Maurice Morrow: By coincidence, I represent the same constituency as Mr Gallagher, and I am acutely aware of the situation that prevails in County Fermanagh. According to housing surveys, County Fermanagh is the worst area for housing. The most recent house conditions survey, from 1996, shows that Fermanagh has the highest percentage of unfit houses in any district council area. However, the same survey shows that that situation is being remedied in Fermanagh at a faster rate than in any other area. Surveys are carried out on a five-yearly basis, and I expect that when the next survey is published in 2001 it will show a considerable reduction in the unfit housing situation there.

Mrs Joan Carson: Chapter 2 of the Programme for Government, to which the Minister’s Department has signed up, recognises that poor housing contributes to social exclusion, and it commits the Executive Committee to better co-ordination in the fields of housing, social security, education, training programmes and social services. Can the Minister tell me what contribution he is making to that improved co-ordination?

Mr Maurice Morrow: The Member may well remember that I am on record as saying that I believe that a good home is not a privilege but a basic right. That is the position that I take. My Department is not shy about making bids for funding for housing. We have in fact produced considerable sums of money to enable the Housing Executive to carry out its repairs and maintenance programme for the incoming year.
We also put in place the smallest percentage rent increases for over a decade. I believe that those are the real ways to treat people who are marginalised and socially deprived. As a result of the actions that I and my Department have taken, housing will get better, not only in Fermanagh, but across the whole of Northern Ireland.

Ms Michelle Gildernew: Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. I accept that the Minister made bids for funding. Does he agree that we need to eradicate, not reduce, the intolerable level of unfitness? Were his bids successful?

Mr Maurice Morrow: The Member is a member of the Social Development Committee, and she is very well aware of what our bids were and whether they were successful or unsuccessful. She knows perfectly well that they were successful. If any Members think that I can eradicate house unfitness in seven months, they are not living in the real world. I have inherited a housing situation that has been developing over the past 30 years. Those who want to be realistic know that that matter can not be solved overnight. For some 27 years I have been championing the case for Housing Executive tenants in Dungannon District Council. As an estate agent, I have also been working for 30 years in housing. Therefore, as I have said before on the Floor, I do have a little knowledge of housing. I know the complexities and difficulties, and I am quite determined that my Department will be at the cutting edge in tackling the housing situation.

Housing Executive Structure

Sir John Gorman: 10. asked the Minister for Social Development to give his assessment of the future structure of the Housing Executive.
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Mr Maurice Morrow: At this time I do not envisage any significant changes to the role and functions of the Housing Executive. It will remain as the single comprehensive housing authority in Northern Ireland. I am, however, continually looking at ways to be innovative in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation.

Sir John Gorman: The Minister is aware that when the Minister of Finance and Personnel was speaking on the Budget, he described a study that was going on in the Department for Social Development. May I recommend that the Minister accelerate that and produce its results, having confirmed that it exists.
Can he consider how it was that in the 1980s and 1990s the Housing Executive was able to attract very considerable sums from the private sector, which it is prevented from doing now in the case of house building?

Mr Maurice Morrow: I can only repeat that we are always looking at ways and means of being as innovative and imaginative as possible with regard to the Housing Executive. That is something that we will keep in the forefront, and, in consultation with the Social Development Committee, we will report on it from time to time. I can only reiterate that we will look continually at the situation and that we envisage the Housing Executive as the single, comprehensive housing authority in Northern Ireland for the foreseeable future.

Mr Jim Shannon: What role does the Housing Executive see for the community groups in the different council areas? Can he confirm that the Housing Executive is considering giving them a bigger say in the estates that they represent, even to the level of considering funding for community groups to look after some of the tenders for work in those estates? Has the Housing Executive considered that matter, is it considering the matter currently, and what are its intentions?

Mr Maurice Morrow: Members should wait to see the new Housing Bill. The Housing Executive continually consults with community groups, housing organisations and associations. We can have a meaningful debate about housing in Northern Ireland when the Bill is published. It is not helpful to speculate, and Members should not speculate on speculation.

Mr Danny O'Connor: The Minister has mentioned the new Housing Bill several times today. Can he indicate when he intends to bring the Bill before the House?

Mr Maurice Morrow: I had hoped to put the Bill before the House before the summer recess, but that is unlikely now. We have lost four months, and, as I have said, the fault is not my Department’s or mine. I regret that four precious and important months have been lost because others could not give direct answers to direct questions. Therefore it is highly unlikely that the Bill will come before the House before the summer recess.

Domestic Energy Efficiency Scheme

Mr Paul Berry: 12. asked the Minister for Social Development to confirm if he has made an application for extra funding to extend the Domestic Energy Efficiency Scheme; and to make a statement.
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Mr Maurice Morrow: The first year’s budget for the new domestic energy efficiency scheme has been increased from £2·88 million to £4 million. If additional funding is required because uptake is greater than anticipated — and if work can be undertaken by installers — a bid for extra funds will be made during the financial year.
Last Friday, simultaneously with England, Scotland and Wales, I launched the United Kingdom fuel poverty strategy. This consultation document outlines the commitment of the Government and the devolved administrations to the eradication of fuel poverty as far as is practical by 2010. The domestic energy efficiency scheme will be the main mechanism by which Northern Ireland hopes to reach that target.

Mr Paul Berry: How long will it take to implement the changes?

Mr Maurice Morrow: We hope to launch the scheme in the spring. This period is difficult to gauge because we are not sure what the level of uptake will be. We will be in a better position to ascertain that once the domestic energy efficiency scheme has been launched.
We are trying to eradicate fuel poverty as far as possible by 2010. I accept that it is guesswork, but it is the best guess that we can make. It will be an ongoing process, and we will be better able to gauge the size of the problem when the scheme is up and running. We do have statistics and figures, but those could change as the situation develops.

Mr Mervyn Carrick: 13. asked the Minister for Social Development to detail plans he has to extend the proposals under the Domestic Energy Efficiency Scheme to those under 60 years of age who are in receipt of incapacity and/or disability benefits.
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Mr Maurice Morrow: The purpose of the new domestic energy efficiency scheme is to focus on the most vulnerable groups living in cold homes. Pensioners on low income are deemed to be particularly at risk. That is why the scheme provides greater benefits for them. However, I accept that the disabled, and those in poor health who are under 60 years of age and on low income, are in need of support. Such people may be helped by the Housing Executive adaptation scheme if they qualify for a disabled facilities grant. Whilst there are delays with the process, the Housing Executive has been working hard with the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety to reduce waiting times and improve the overall service.
A report on the adaptation process should be available for consultation in April 2001. There is scope for the new domestic energy efficiency scheme (DEES) to complete other grant programmes and vice versa. It will be the responsibility of the new scheme manager, when visiting homes, to determine whether a householder under the age of 60 with a disability merits improved heating standards. Contact will then be made with the relevant authorities in order to initiate the application for adaptation. That is the best approach for the householder; their circumstances can be fully assessed by an occupational therapist. The individual’s medical condition may require other adaptations to areas such as the bathroom or kitchen. Officials will discuss arrangements with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to allow such cases to be fast tracked.

Mr Mervyn Carrick: I welcome the Minister’s comments about people who suffer from disability. He spoke about the adaptation programme, which has experienced considerable delays. Under the Programme for Government, the Office of the First Minister and the Deputy First Minister has responsibility for ensuring that special emphasis be given to the needs not only of the elderly but of the disabled and other special groups in the provision of social housing. Linked to the Minister’s target of reducing fuel poverty in vulnerable households by improving energy efficiency in 20,000 private sector homes between 2001 and 2004 —

Mr Speaker: The Member should ask a question.

Mr Mervyn Carrick: Does the Minister agree that it is imperative that we find the resources to achieve that objective soon?

Mr Maurice Morrow: The question was in that last line. Resources are finite. A line must be drawn to prevent the scheme from becoming unwieldy and difficult to manage. Resources would become diluted and priority groups would suffer. I wish that there were a scheme with sufficient finance and resources to support all groups. Unfortunately, in the real world that is not the case.

Ms Patricia Lewsley: I shall return to the original question. I have raised the issue of discrimination between applicants for help under the scheme. Disabled people under 60 will gain £750 towards heating costs; in comparison, people over 60 who receive benefit will gain £2,000.

Mr Maurice Morrow: The Member will recall my acceptance that a disabled person or a person in poor health under 60 on low income was in need of support. Such a person — if he or she qualifies — may be helped by the Housing Executive’s adaptation scheme with a disabled facilities grant. Such people could have access to that grant and should pursue it.
I hope that that addresses the concerns that the Member has raised, and I encourage her to direct her constituents accordingly.
Adjourned at 4.03 pm.